


Growing Pains

by the_jedi_ninja



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Biology, Dog BB-8, Engineering, Fencing, Fights, Finnpoe - Freeform, Flirting, Gen, Genetics, Han is an A+ grumpy lecturer, Jupiter Ascending - Freeform, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Physics, Quidditch, RNLI, Slow Burn, Space Gays, Stormpilot, Swimming, Text Flirting, The First Order, UK - Freeform, because why not?, it's poe's favourite film, sciences, swansea, swansea uni
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7497321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_jedi_ninja/pseuds/the_jedi_ninja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hours later Finn’s phone buzzed again and there was another photo waiting for him. It was a selfie this time, Poe in bed with Bee tucked in beside him, under the covers. “Someone didn’t want to sleep alone tonight” the message read and Finn smiled. Poe had a pout on his face, his deep brown eyes wide open, bottom lip stuck out in cartoon upset. He genuinely looked like he was in bed and not just pretending for the photo. Finn would never be so bold as to send someone he hardly knew a photo of him in bed. But, Finn reminded himself, Poe hadn’t sent a photo of himself, he’d sent a photo of his dog. Poe just happened to be in it. That’s what Finn repeated to himself anyway before shooting a quick “good night” to Poe and turning in himself."<br/>-<br/>A slow burn Stormpilot University AU in which Finn plays Quidditch, Poe is part of the local Lifeboat crew, Rey kicks ass on and off the lacrosse pitch, and Kylo is the jerk we all know him to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Find any lines that you particularly loved? Please let me know what they were! :)
> 
> Chapters vary in length b/c I'm not very good at that yet. Finn and Poe meet in Chapter 4 and things... awaken... in chapter 8.

Finn got off the bus looking around for someone to point him in the right direction. There were cars everywhere, young adults flanked by parents, everyone seemingly trying to get their bearings. A girl with two lip rings and a red t-shirt approached him.  
“You looking for registration?”  
Finn nodded, still trying to take everything in.  
“It’s right over there,” the girl continued pointing to a pop up gazebo in the middle of what seemed to be a central area of the Student Village, the place Finn had chosen to live during his first year at Swansea University. “You’ll get your house keys and a welcome pack. Fresher’s Fayre starts on Monday, down on campus.”  
“Thanks,” Finn said and shouldering his bag walked over to join the queue that was rapidly extending towards the bus stop.

Poe unlocked the door to his house and kicked it open so that his dog could run in before him. Bee always needed to be first into the house, and getting tripped up by his dog was not on Poe’s list of things to do today.  
“Jess?” he called out to the house. His new housemate had been moved in for weeks already, shifting her stuff in while he was on holiday. The shouted reply came from the direction of the kitchen.  
“Yeah Poe! Welcome home. I’ve just stuck the kettle on - oh hey Bee!”  
Poe shut the door behind him, throwing his leather jacket on the stairs to take up to his room later. Bee’s basket was in his other hand and he had to avoid clunking it off the walls as he headed towards the kitchen. The walls were marked enough already, Poe didn’t want to add to the unintended graffiti.  
“Tea?” asked Jess as Poe appeared in the kitchen.  
“Coffee. That was a hell of a drive, I’m knackered. Why I chose to come back the same weekend as the Freshers are moving in, I’ll never know.”  
Jess searched in the cupboards above the kettle before getting her hands on some instant coffee. She spooned some of it unceremoniously into a mug as she replied. “Life lesson for you right there. You think you’d have learnt by now Poe.”  
Poe shrugged with a wiry grin on his face. “You should know me by now Jess, I don’t learn.”  
“I’ll drink to that,” laughed Jess handing Poe his coffee. “Here’s to the new uni year.”

Kylo Ren stepped out of the shower in his new and shiny campus ensuite room. He hated feeling dirty and nothing made him feel dirtier than taking public transport. The train journey from London, where he’d spent the last few weeks of his summer holidays with friends, had been hot and sweaty. Cramped into a seat beside a stranger for thee hours Kylo had been driven to distraction during the three hour journey. His mother was insisting that the family go out for dinner that night and while Kylo didn’t want spend an awkward few hours with his parents, he would be able to bear it better feeling like he hadn’t just stepped out of an steam room.  
Kylo’s bags were unopened at the foot of his bed. He’d do that later. After he’d gotten dressed, he took his physics workbook and set off to the communal area of his floor. He wanted to make sure everyone had a particular first impression of him.

Rey lent her lacrosse stick gently against the wall of her small student room. Living in the Student Village was cheaper than the campus accommodation, but it was also much more basic. Still, she had a sink in her room, so wouldn’t need to worry about any of her housemates drunkly using her toothbrush. She’d already met one or two of them on the way in, they seemed nice enough, although everyone was very reserved. Rey appreciated that. She didn’t socialise much. Plus everyone had their parents with them, and she was trying to avoid awkward questions about where her family was. Rey didn’t want the fact that she’d grown up in the foster care system the first thing that people learnt about her.  
Slowly Rey unpacked the few belongings she had brought with her. A couple of novels, a few scale models of different aircraft, some engineering books, her sports kit, a mute coloured wardrobe, splashed with a few new coloured items she’d been talked into buying for “all the parties she’d be going to at uni”. Rey wasn’t convinced of that last point, but had humoured the social worker all the same.  
When she was done, Rey sat down on her bed and looked around. Yes, she thought, a few posters and this room wouldn’t be half bad. Perhaps she’d finally have somewhere to call home.


	2. Chapter 2

Monday morning dawned clear and sunny, the perfect start to Freshers Week. Swansea Bay sparkled in the light creating a glittering effect that only comes from calm waters. It seemed to cast a spell over the city, a feeling of newness, of good things still to come. A huge tent was coving the patch of grass in front of Fulton House, Swansea University’s main building. Inside it were tables lined up in neat rows, a few people already milling around behind them, waiting for the onslaught of students to arrive. The resident herring gulls cawed indignantly at being evicted from their usual scavenging grounds, stalking up and down the steps to the building instead, hoping that someone would drop a scrap of food they could descend on and bicker over.

As the day began in ernest, red polo necked Student Ambassadors gathered, greeting old friends and getting ready to make new ones. Freshers living on campus were the first to arrive, along with some wise returning students, who knew how manic Freshers Fayre would get. By midday, the tent seemed to be heaving at the seams, filled with new students keen to join up to the clubs and associations where they could make new friends, develop new skills, or just have guaranteed drinking buddies.

Finn arrived on the bus after a casual morning. He’d been up late the night before getting to know his housemates. So far, they were getting on great and bar any weird stuff, like making soup in the middle of the night naked, he was sure he’d enjoy living with them until the end of the year at least. What would happen after that was anyone’s guess. He was probably too early to jump to assumptions about this year, but Finn had always looked on the bright side. He’d come down to campus by himself however. No one else was up when he left. It was probably better this way though, Finn thought. He had no idea what clubs he wanted to join, and was bound to spend ages here, trying to decide what he could do time-wise and money-wise. He couldn’t afford to join every single club he liked the sound of, he needed to be sensible for once.  
It was difficult to chat to anyone properly inside the tent, but Finn had a pretty good go at it. There were certain tables he passed by pretty quickly, knowing he had no interest in them, or they would be too expensive. Like the Equestrian Club, and the SCUBA table. The swimming table caught his eye however, and Finn passed a good ten minutes getting all the info about them. His broad shoulders betrayed an interest in swimming, although he’d never done it competitively. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, and if he didn’t, Finn wasn’t sure joining the Swimming Club would be right for him. He took his leave of the short girl behind the table, saying he think about it and would be back later if he wanted too.  
A few tables down though, Finn saw something that made him stop in his tracks.  
“Quidditch?!” He stood in front of a table, looking up at the sign, hardly able to believe his eyes. “Right, you got me interested. How do muggles play quidditch?”  
“It’s not that different to magical quidditch really,” replied the boy behind the table. “Okay, it’s a bit different to magical quidditch,” he adjusted his answer in response to Finn’s raised eyebrow. “Basically, you have all the same balls, but the bludgers don’t fly themselves, the snitch is attached to the back of a runner, and you have to run around with broomsticks between your legs.”  
Finn was gobsmacked. “Amazing, I did not even know that was a thing.”  
“Yeah man,” laughed the other boy. “That’s a London accent right? They actually have two teams. The Unspeakables and the Werewolves.”  
“No way! That is so cool! Okay, you gotta tell me more.”  
When the other boy (called Jack, Finn found out) had finished explaining a little more about the game, and team practices Finn was convinced.  
“Sign me up bruv. I am so ready for this!”  
Jack handed his a sheet. “I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic! By your build you’d make a great Chaser, or Beater. But you can give all of them a shot and see what position you prefer.”  
“Can’t wait man!”  
Finn filled in the sheet he’d been given and handed it back to Jack with a smile and farewell before moving off to the next few stalls. He walked straight past the RNLI Lifeboats table, and didn’t notice the tall swarthy man with morning stubble and curly dark hair standing behind it.

Poe Dameron blew a stray curl out of his eyes and smiled at the students passing. Manning the Fresher’s Fayre stall for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was never his favourite things to do, but as one of the only volunteers that actually went to the university, it made sense. Not that he wasn’t proud of the work he did for the RNLI, he was, very much so, it was just that a very select group of people were interested in what the stall had to offer. The vast majority of those were not in the tent right now. The upside to enduring the hordes of hungover soon-to-be-students was that the odd one would drop a quid or two into the donation pot, probably feeling bad they didn’t want to volunteer.  
The RNLI insisted on having a stall at Fresher’s Fayre every year in case there was ever any mature students, or Ph.D students (like Poe) that wanted to volunteer. Poe himself had been involved since he arrived at Swansea years ago. Lifeboats was in his blood. Both his parents had been involved, so risking your life for strangers was something he’d grown up with. It was only natural to him that he do it too, until he could think of a reason not to, and he’d yet to think of a reason not to.  
Popping a few Skittles in his mouth, Poe’s eyes idly followed a tall, thin boy, who was clearly intent on his destination.

Kylo Ren was not enjoying his first day of Fresher’s Week. His mother had insisted on another family dinner last night which, unsurprisingly, had ended in a fight. That had been one of his favourite things about boarding school in London. He hadn’t needed any excuse not to hang out his parents. They just weren’t here. Perhaps he shouldn’t have chosen to go to the university where both his parents were lecturers, but Kylo would be damned if his mother and father prevented him getting the best degree he was capable of. He wasn’t going to let them stop him from fulfilling his potential.  
Outside proving how clever he was to people, fencing was a hobby of Kylo’s. Like everything else he did, he was arrogant of his ability and keen to prove himself to the world. That was the reason he was in this living, breathing, sweating mass trapped within four canvas walls.  
Almost before he’d even reached the Fencing Club table Kylo had demanded a sign-up sheet. The startled girl free handed him a form with as much politeness as she could.  
“Here you go, do you have any experience?”  
“I do,” Kylo sneered. “I was top of the school circuit in England actually.” He threw in the name of his prestigious private boarding school in, just to see the girl’s reaction and wasn’t disappointed. He savoured knowing he had made her eyebrows arch up like that. A self-satisfied smirk on his face, he handed the sheet back.  
“I certainly hope that you live up to my expectations,” he said before turning away.  
“Weirdo,” she whispered under her breath, filing his form and making a face at his retreating back.  
Kylo didn’t hear her, he was too busy trying to get out of the tent as fast as possible. In his hurry, he collided with a girl just entering. He didn’t stop at her yelp of surprise, nor even throw an apology over his shoulder, those sorts of things were for beings lesser than Kylo Ren.

Rey rubbed her shoulder, a frown on her face. She couldn’t blame the guy for knocking into her, it was packed in here, but the jerk hadn't even apologised. Whatever, she just needed to sign up for lacrosse and get out. Moving fluidly through the crowd Rey soon located the correct stall and had filled in all the forms. The girl chatted away to her, happy that someone with a bit of experience was joining up. Apparently, there hadn’t been much interest this year yet. Rey didn’t mind. The less people went the better for her. She didn’t think she’d have been able to handle trying to get to know too many new people in one go. Already she was getting nervous about the first social of the year that this girl, Gwen, was talking about. But apparently she “just had to come!”. Rey nodded her consent quickly, before making her excuses and sliding away. That party she’d just have to deal with.  
There was one more stop Rey wanted to make before she hit up somewhere for lunch. The Athletics table wasn’t too far away, Rey found it by the huge crowd around it. Eventually, she managed to make her way to the front and ask someone a few questions about the club. It was fairly obvious to her within a few sentences that it wasn’t what she wanted. At least that was an easy decision. Rey declined to join the email listing for those unwilling to commit today, she knew how to get in touch herself if she changed her mind, and headed for the exit. As she did so, Rey didn’t notice the broad-shouldered, black boy taking to the Bioscience Club in a strong London accent. Even if she had, she wouldn’t have given him a second look. This tent was full of people she would never see again.


	3. Chapter 3

Fresher’s Week (which was actually a fortnight) passed in a flurry of parties, BBQs on the beach, students burning dinners and day trips into town. The university organised campus tours so that anyone who wanted to take one would be a little less lost on their first day of lessons. Clubs contacted people who’d signed up, internet companies set up new routers in houses, and local business suddenly discovered a flurry of CV arriving at their doors.

Finn was having a great time so far. The week had stayed sunny, so each chance he got he had been outside, talking and making friends with whoever he could. His house had been out to Oceana for a bonding session, he’d attended the Fresher’s Ball and so far, he’d been able to keep himself fed. He was amazed at how much food he ate, that had been one good thing about his boarding school, he’d never had to think about food or his meals before. Finn was managing okay though, he might just have to stop eating an entire meal every time he felt a little hungry.  
He’d already explored campus, and Swansea. He’d even walked the whole way down to Mumbles with a group of other first years who had signed up for Quidditch. It was beautiful down there, although Finn felt that if it wasn’t sunny the walk might not be so pleasant. Now, the afternoon after Fresher’s Ball Finn was getting ready to head down to campus. He’d received his timetable and with classes starting in three days Finn wanted to make sure he knew where all the lecture halls were. Getting lost on his way to his first class was most definitely something he wanted to avoid. Doing the three touch tap, Finn locked the door to his room and headed to the bus stop.

Poe had been hard at work since Fresher’s Fayre. A new uni year meant a new round of experiments for his research. He’d spent the last fortnight making sure that his PhD supervisor, Professor Organa, had signed off all his procedures, making last minute adjustments based on last years experiments and ordering in any more equipment he needed. Poe was comfortable in the Wallace Building, centre of Swansea Uni’s science department. He’d been here since he starting studying five years previously. Genetics wasn’t an easy subject to take on, but Poe had been fascinated by it since taking Professor Organa’s module on it in his second year. Since then she’d guided him through a dissertation, Master degree and now, his Doctorate. Poe hoped when it was all over, he’d be able to get a research position at the university. Still, completion of his PhD was a few years away yet, who knew what would happen between now and then?

Classes couldn’t start soon enough for Kylo. Freshers had been enjoyable in it’s way, he’d fallen into a sort-of friendship with a guy on his floor, Hux, and they’d gone to a few parties laughing at everyone else. Hux was studying Maths, one of the reasons Kylo tolerated him. Kylo regarded maths as a proper science. It was almost as useful as physics, so Hux was clearly of a passable intelligence level. Still, Kylo hadn’t come to university to make friends, he had come to study. With only the weekend to go before classes start, Kylo was irritable. It probably didn’t help that Hux had witnessed an unsuccessful pick up attempt last night at the Freshers Ball. Whatever, that girl was probably a lesbian anyway. Kylo couldn’t think of any other reason she might have turned him down. Picking a book off his shelf, Kylo settled down for a day of getting a head start on the reading he would have for his modules. He was sure that he would be the only person thinking of that. Kylo was determined to have the edge over any competition before he even started this year.

Rey stopped in the middle of her run for two reasons. One: to give herself a break, and two: to admire the amazing view. She was halfway between Mumbles and the university, taking deep breaths Rey looked across the water to Mumbles Pier. It really was quite beautiful. Running helped her keep her brain in check, and gave her an excuse to get away from awkward conversations. So far though, things had been going better than she had hoped. She wasn’t the only one in her house that liked to be left by their-self, in fact, it was much more acceptable to be cooped up in your room on your laptop at uni than it was in the foster home. Back there Rey had always been told that she needed to socialise more, no one seemed to understand that she really didn’t like doing that. Even at school she’d had a small group of friends that she could hang out with, but no one that she couldn’t cope without.  
Rey had been so excited to leave that all behind. To go to a place where not one person knew she’d been dumped into the care system as a young girl, with nothing but an empty promise to come back soon and the clothes she was wearing. Maybe that was why she’d always been fascinated by space. As a child she’d always been looking for the family she now knew were never coming back for her, as she’d grown her eyes had moved from the road to the sky. Up there options were limitless and you didn’t have to worry about earthly things. So many questions that were still being asked, things that Rey would eventually have the answer to, mysteries that she had a chance of solving. She was so excited to start her degree in Aerospace Engineering.  
A smile crept over the young lady’s face just thinking about the new start she had. In such a good mood, Rey’s run would feel like she was flying. Taking one last look at the pier she was heading for, Rey turned back to the footpath and started up running again, her long strides easily carrying her into her new life.


	4. Chapter 4

The tall halls of the Wallace building seemed abandoned. This was an unsurprising fact for a Friday afternoon before term technically started. Returning students had little to no reason to be there, lecturers and professors were probably hidden away in their offices dreading the onslaught of freshers that would crowd through the doors on Monday morning. Lab technicians pottered around, preparing experiments, continuing current ones, making sure everything was in place for the coming year.

Finn stepped into the building and a feeling of great things to come swept over him. For the next three years he could be in here almost every day, learning about the wonders of the natural world, exploring cells, ecosystems and larger organisms. He’d have meetings with his personal tutor, laugh with classmates between lectures, probably have a few late nights in the computer lab finishing up coursework. Finn could hardly wait.  
For the next half an hour or so, Finn wandered around the building. He made sure he knew where all his lecture halls on Monday were, he found the lab for his first practical on Thursday and he even explored the upper landing where the geography department was based. Curious about everything, Finn stuck his head into any room he could, although some of the labs were locked. Probably because they had experiments and chemicals and stuff Finn thought.  
Eventually, Finn was satisfied that he knew enough to not get lost on Monday morning, and probably even be able to help a few others find their way around too. It was high time he was heading off anyway, he thought. He wanted to do a shop at Tesco’s before dinner. Stock up on packed lunch food, and possibly something to throw quickly in the oven for dinner after what he was sure would be a tiring first week. He was determined not to become one of those students that lived on noodles and frozen peas. For one, he didn’t think he’d be able to swim and play quidditch on that diet, never mind study on top of all that. Finn planned to study. He had come to Swansea to get a good education, he didn’t plan on throwing that away. A few parties were still on the agenda though, no sense in wasting what so many people had told him would be the best three years of his life.

Despite knowing he really needed to leave Finn was reluctant to. Silly, he told himself, you’ll be back here in a number of days. Probably be sick of the place by Christmas. Still, his feet lingered as he walked back down the corridor to the entrance hall. Perhaps it was the quiet. Boarding school hallways felt so noisy and crowded to Finn, sometimes he felt like he was being choked there, pushed into a mould of hard science and maths and physical regimes. Finn had never fitted in, but he’d done his best, that was all he ever could do. Now though, he was choosing what he wanted to do and the feeling of freedom had never been so real to him. Finn forced himself to head towards the entrance hall, deciding to walk along the beach to the supermarket. That view was still mesmerising to him and he wanted to enjoy it as much as possible before the standard Welsh autumn rain started falling.

Just as Finn was reaching the end of the corridor, a door on his left flew open and several large boxes came flying out towards him. Out of instinct, Finn’s large hands flew up and caught them, somewhat awkwardly, but preventing them from hitting the floor.  
“Oh my goodness, thanks so much!”  
Finn looked up and was greeted by the most soulful brown eyes he’d ever seen in his life. They belonged to a face with a strong jaw covered in the smallest amount of stubble, blending into soft, messy curls above his ears. The face smiled at him, and Finn couldn’t help but smile back.  
“Lucky I was here,” said Finn brightly, holding the boxes out, before noticing that the other man’s hands were also full of boxes. Not a bit of wonder he’d dropped some of them.  
“Lucky indeed. Do us a favour and hang onto them for another second would you? They’re going just down here.”  
“Uh, sure.”

Finn obligingly followed the strange man down the corridor to a lab that had been locked fifteen minutes ago. Finn knew this because he’d tried the door while he was exploring. Using his hip, the man Finn was following pushed the handle down and walked backwards into the room. Finn had to stretch his stride quickly to catch the door with his foot before it closed on him and was greeted with his first glance of a Swansea University lab room.  
The man set his boxes on the nearest lab bench and Finn followed suit before looking around. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the room, it honestly wasn’t that different to his labs at boarding school. Maybe a few more of the major pieces of equipment. There were fume cupboards along one wall, and high on the walls, in strategic positions, there were a few TVs, probably for video demonstrations. If anything, the room looked worn, well used, old almost.  
“You a Fresher?”  
“Huh?” The question made Finn look around, the guy he’d followed in was unpacking the mystery boxes (petri dishes in the first one). “Uh, yeah. Yeah I am.”  
The guy smiled at him again and Finn noticed that the upturn of his lips made his cheeks crinkle. “Welcome to Swansea. You’re gonna love it here.”  
“I sure hope so,” replied Finn.  
“I take it you’re studying some form of science?” The stranger held out a hand towards Finn, “I’m Poe by the way.”  
Finn took the hand in a firm grip (always have a firm handshake he’d once been told) and it was returned with equal force.  
“Finn,” he replied. “Yeah, biology. For this year at least.”  
“Nice to meet you Finn. You not entirely sold on biology then?” Poe moved onto the next box in the line. This one had bottles of some form of clear liquid in them.  
Finn shrugged in response. “I really like natural science, but I was also looking at biochemistry. There’s a lot to choose from, you know?”  
Poe nodded in agreement. “Well, maybe you’ll find a specific subject that catches your attention here. I know I did.”  
Finn leaned his elbows on the bench he was standing at. “What are you doing?”  
“PhD student,” Poe said, a hint of pride creeping into his voice. “Genetics. I took a module taught by Professor Organa in my second year, and she got me totally hooked on the subject. I haven’t left the uni since.” Poe gave a short laugh. “Maybe I never will.”

Finn smiled back at Poe, there was something about this guy that just made you want to know him better. Maybe it was the twinkle in his eyes, or the easy way he carried himself, like he didn’t have a care in the world, but Finn was pretty sure that this guy was something special.  
“So what’s your PhD on then?” asked Finn.  
Poe paused from his unpacking and looked a little more serious than he had a moment ago, before smiling that winning smile again. “I’ll not bore you with all the technical details, but basically I’m looking into the mutation rates of bacteria and viruses under different conditions.” Poe gestured to a few thermal cupboards on the sides. “This term, and possibly all year, I’m looking at temperature. So, like, do somethings mutate at a higher rate in higher temperatures, so are drugs going to be less effective on fever patients and-”  
Poe cut himself off. “Sorry, I said I’d not bore you.”  
“You weren’t!” Finn protested.  
“You’re sweet. Take a look if you like.” Poe nodded a head in the directions of his experiments.

Finn wandered over to the side, checking out the little cupboards. Each one had a neat label on the front, listing the temperature, what was in the petri dishes on the inside, todays date, and then all of that Poe had signed his name under it all and added the tag line “Respect the water”. Finn was about to ask what that meant when something else caught his eye.  
“Em Poe?” He said, a little hesitantly.  
“Yeah buddy?” Poe replied without turning around.  
Finn paused for a moment. He didn’t want to make a fool out of himself. But then, if he was right… “Uh, this one says ‘body temperature’ on the label, but the temperature of the apparatus is set to 47, not 37…”  
“What?!”  
Poe strode over, and peered at the cupboard Poe was standing beside. Finn fidgeted nervously beside him.  
“I mean, I’m not trying to tell you you’re wrong or anything, I mean, I’m only a Fresher, and you obviously know what you’re doing and-”  
“Buddy,” Poe cut him off clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Stop rambling, you’re totally right.”  
Finn blinked. “I - I am?”  
“You are!” Poe threw his head back and laughed. “Finn, you totally just saved my ass. I thought I’d triple checked all of this stuff already. I was gonna turn it all on and go home. You just saved my first batch of experiments this year.”  
Finn smiled shyly, he wasn’t used to such overwhelmingly open praise.  
“That’s twice you’ve helped me out today,” continued Poe. “Thanks man.”  
“No worries,” muttered Finn. “Happy to help.”  
“I’m sure glad you’re hanging around. They say things happen in threes, you owe me one more ass saving.”  
That did make Finn laugh. “I’ll be sure to look out for any opportunities.” Glancing at his watch the Londoner suddenly realised how late it was getting. “Shit, is that the time? I really ought’a get going.”  
“You got somewhere to be?” asked Poe casually.  
Finn shook his head. “Not in particular, I was just planning on heading to Tesco’s and have dinner at a decent time.”  
“I’ll not keep you then Finn. Are you staying on campus or up in the Student Village?”  
“Student Village. It was cheaper.”  
Poe nodded sagely. “That’s where I stayed too. Had a good first year there. I’m sure you will too.”  
“Thanks man.”  
Poe smiled at Finn yet again, and Finn, like every other time thought how nice it was. “Thank you Finn. See you around?”  
“For sure, yeah.” Finn nodded and smiled at his new friend. “See you later.”  
And with that he headed out of the lab and into town.

By the time Finn got back to the Student Village, he had a friend request on Facebook that made him feel all warm inside.


	5. Chapter 5

Time advanced as it always does, steadily but far too fast for some people. Finn settled into a routine of lectures, practicals, quidditch and nights out. He kept up his swimming, twice a week before lectures when he could. He made friends in his classes and enjoyed learning. University was a much more relaxed atmosphere than what his boarding school had been and Finn flourished under the lack of pressure. Occasionally, he saw Poe in the corridors and the older student always had a smile for him, something Finn never failed to return.

As the summer turned to autumn, the weather took a turn for the worse. Quidditch practice was often cold, wet and muddy, but despite that fact Finn loved running around the pitch with his broom between his legs, scoring goals and tackling people. He had tried out all the positions. Chasing was his favourite one, but if needed he was equally happy to Beat or Keep. The one or two times he’d volunteered to Seek where a little disastrous, he wasn’t quite nimble enough. Jack, the one who had signed Finn up in the first place, was trying to persuade him to train as a Snitch.  
“You’re not nippy, but you’re solid Finn,” he said. “Hard to get around. A lot of teams don’t train their Seekers for that type of Snitch. Not that you’d be biassed as a Snitch. Completely neutral.”  
Finn promised Jack he’d think about it.

Where Finn was thriving in his new environment, Rey was excelling in a completely different way. Never had she felt more in her element, learning about so many new things and then getting to put them into practice in her practical lessons too. Her personal tutor was a gruff man whom Rey took a liking to immediately, and although Rey was normally shy of strangers she couldn’t help herself from getting excited about engineering around him.  
Lacrosse was going amazingly too. Her team was at a similar level to her. It turned out Gwen, the girl at sign-ups, was the captain of the team and she’d been right about there not being much interest this year. The fact that there were very few beginners meant that Rey had been able to launch straight into the rigorous training she enjoyed so much. Feeling the adrenaline pump through her veins and hearing the rush of blood in her ears gave her comfort in a way she didn’t get from anything else. Perhaps some part of the brutal clashes in lacrosse gave her an outlet for the deep rage she would always deny to having, because she was as aggressive on the pitch as she was quiet off it.

Almost every Thursday after practice the team would go over to JC’s, the student union’s bar and have a few drinks together. Most of the time Rey declined, occasionally she would go with them and listen to their tales while she drunk her own pint slowly.  
Today was one of the days she declined the offer. Rey appreciated that they always asked though, she really was starting to feel like she was part of a team, but she didn’t have the energy for it tonight. What she really wanted to do was walk down to the beach and eat her post-practice snack while the sun sunk lower into the ocean.  
After getting changed, Rey waved goodbye to the other girls, shouldered her lacrosse stick and traipsed down the hill to the shorefront.  
It was a warm evening for the time of year, just before Hallowe’en and the change of the clocks. Rey took her time, letting the body heat she’d accumulated throughout practice seep out slowly until eventually she felt the need to put her jumper on. Rey continued to walk for a few more minutes. The beach directly in front of the University had too many students milling around it. Closer to town was normally quieter and that was what Rey wanted at the moment.

The evening was calm, the air light with lack of moisture. It was rained horrifically the day before and for the moment Swansea appeared to be all rained out. All Rey could hear was the slow regular rush of waves on the beach, and the hum of traffic on the road behind her. There was the odd harsh shriek of a gull high above her but apart from that it was still. A perfect evening, thought Rey. She sat down on a nearby bench and taking her flapjack out, settled down to enjoy it.  
After a few moments a new sound reached Rey’s ears. It sounded like a high pitched yelp and Rey knew instinctively that it didn’t belong. It sounded again, louder this time, and Rey recognised it as the yelp of a dog. A dog in pain for that matter. Rey was on her feet in an instant, lacrosse stick in hand, striding off to find it.

Finn was walking in from town. Thursday was his free afternoon from lectures and he’d taken the opportunity the respite from the rain provided to take a stroll down to the marina and back. He’d stopped on the way back to the university to eat fish and chips on the beach, but now was heading back to catch the bus back the Student Village. It was possible to catch BOB (Bright Orange Bus), the bus that went to the Village, from the centre of town, but Finn enjoyed the walk along the beach. Swansea felt so open compared to London. He’d never been somewhere so un-urbanised for so long and to his surprise, he was loving it. That had been one of the things that had made Finn nervous about uni, the massive change of scenery, but he’d risked it anyway, figuring if he wanted to make a clean break and a new start, it had better be a complete change. It was too soon to know for sure, but Fin hoped he was growing into a new person.

A scuffle on the footpath several hundred meters in front of him broke Finn out of his inner musings. It looked like two boys had cornered a girl in a sports kit and there was some sort of altercation going on. The girl was clearly angry, everything about her body language screamed pissed off, Finn squinted, did she have some sort of pole in her hand? The boys didn’t seem too fussed by her, they were openly laughing and clearly trying to scare her, jumping forward at random times. It was only when one of the boys aimed a kick around the girl that Finn noticed the small dog lying on the grass. That was clearly the wrong thing to do. The girl shoved one of the boys back with such force that he fell backwards. He had short red hair and Finn didn’t recognise him, but as the other boy moved forward towards the girl in response Finn caught a glimpse of his face and recognising him, broke into a run. Kylo Ren had a temper, he’d better get there fast!

Finn was barely within shouting distance when he saw it happen. One minute Kylo Ren was trying to shove the girl out of his way, the next he was sitting on the ground clutching his nose. The girl had swung her pole (a lacrosse stick Finn could see now) so fast it had been a blur, catching Kylo clean across the face.  
“Don’t you ever touch me again!” the girl was yelling at him.  
Finn was close enough now to see the scarlet blood seeping from behind his fingers. The other boy pulled Kylo to his feet.  
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he muttered to his companion. Kylo resisted the pull for just long enough to spit at the girl.  
“You’ll pay for this you dyke,” he snarled and then the two of them were gone.

“Are you okay?” Finn asked, meters away from the girl now. She swung her lacrosse stick around so fast that Finn had to jump out of the way. He put his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Finn. I saw what happened.”  
The girl eyed him suspiciously. Slowly, she lowered her stick. “Rey,” she said. Turning away from Finn she dropped down on the grass next to the dog that was lying there. “I don’t think she’s too badly injured.”  
The dog was shivering. Rey put a gentle hand on her side and the dog whimpered, but didn’t pull away.  
“Poor thing,” muttered Finn. “Does it have a collar?” He reached towards the animal’s head to give it a stroke and see, but the dog shied away from his hand a faint growl in its throat. Finn took his hand back straight away. “Woah, easy pup.”  
The dog seemed to have taken a liking to Rey. It curled in beside her as she gently rubbed her hand along it. It was red and white, some sort of spaniel, Finn wasn’t sure what type.  
“No collar,” said Rey.  
“What do you think we should do?”  
“I dunno, I can’t just leave her here. Where’d she even come from?” Rey looked around, as if expecting to see a frantic owner come running down the path at any moment.  
Finn suddenly had an idea. “Why don’t you post a photo of her on Facebook? Maybe someone will recognise her.”  
“I don’t-” Rey looked uncomfortable, “I don’t think I have enough Facebook friends for that to work.”  
“That’s okay, I can do it.” Finn didn’t think Rey had any reason to be embarrassed about that fact. Loads of people didn’t have too many friends on Facebook. Heck, some people didn’t have Facebook! Pulling out his phone, Finn snapped a quick picture of the little dog. Within moments, he’d shared it on his page, and several Swansea specific groups he was a member of.  
“I guess we just wait now,” he said, sitting down near Finn and the dog, but far enough away that neither one of them was uncomfortable with his presence.

Finn’s phone was soon buzzing away, people liking his post, commenting on it, and sharing it on their own pages, but so far no one knew anything about it. Rey looked expectant every time Finn unlocked his phone and every time Finn shook his head.  
“How long are you gonna stay here for?” she asked.  
“Until we find her owner.” Finn had thought that was obvious. “Might as well pass the time. That guy you decked, you know him?”  
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Rey replied.  
Finn shrugged. “I know him. He was Head Boy at my school. No idea how he got it, he’s not that nice. I kinna liked seeing him bleeding on the floor to be honest.”  
Rey cracked a smile at that. “He tried to hit on me at Freshers Ball. I told him to sod off and now he seems to think that means I’m gay.”  
“Yeah well, Kylo Ren’s ego wouldn’t allow any other explanation.”  
Rey laughed. “Kylo Ren?! What kind of name is that?”  
“Search me,” Finn shrugged. “It’s all I’ve ever known him by.”

A sudden flurry of buzzes made Finn pause the conversation. Someone was sending him a lot of messages very rapidly. Swiping open the messenger app, Finn’s stomach jolted to see he had 5 messages from Poe Dameron.

“THAT’S MY DOG!”  
“WHERE DID YOU FIND HER?”  
“OMG, is she okay?”  
“I can’t believe you found her.”  
“Ring me AS SOON as you get these!!!”

Finn copied the number from the message to his phone and pressed call as he brought Rey up to speed with the situation. Poe answered on the first ring.  
“Finn?! Where are you? Is Bee okay? How did you find her? Thank you so much! Keep her with you okay?”  
Finn had to hold the phone away from his ear slightly. “She’s alright Poe, we’re down at the beach, on the path near the War Memorial.”  
“I’ll be right there!”  
Poe hung up before Finn even had a chance to say good-bye.  
“Poe’s on his way. She’s called Bee.”  
“Good,” Rey smiled. “Hear that Bee? Poe’s coming for you.”  
Bee gave a little twitch and snuffle in response, burying her nose into Rey’s arm for comfort.

Although it must have been longer, it felt like mere moments before Poe appeared, jogging along the path towards them.  
“Bee!” He called as soon as he was close enough. As soon as she heard her masters voice Bee’s head shot up and as he called again she was off Rey’s lap and limping towards him as fast as she could.  
“Oh my god, BB-8, what happened?” Poe scooped her up in his arm, kissing her head and carrying her back to where Finn and Rey were waiting. “Thank you so much for finding her, she’s been missing all day. Jess thought she was in my room, I thought she was in with Jess, we only discovered she was gone when she didn’t come looking for her dinner.”  
Finn didn’t reply right away, expecting Rey to take the lead on the story, but when she didn’t he filled Poe in.

“I didn’t actually find her, that was Rey. I came along and she was kicking the butt of some douchebags that were baiting her. She broke one of their noses.”  
Poe looked at Rey with pure respect and gratitude. “Thank you so much. Bee’s a rescue dog, she must have been terrified.”  
Rey shrugged, giving Bee a little pat. “My blood was up.”  
“Do you know who they were? What kind of jerks pick on a defenceless dog?”  
“Someone I didn’t know and this guy called Klyo Ren that went to school with me,” replied Finn.  
Poe’s brow creased. “Klyo Ren. I know that name… Professor Organa’s son! His dad’s a lecturer in the Engineering department too. Dr. Solo. Gross, they’re both solid people, I wonder why their son turned out so bad. Rey! Are you okay?”  
Finn turned from watching Poe talk to look at his new friend. She had turned as pale as a sheet, like she’d seen a ghost.

“Not the Dr. Solo who put forward the theory of hyperspace travel known as Kessel Running?” she managed to choke out.  
Poe and Finn looked at each other, neither of them had a clue what Rey was talking about.  
“I guess so?” said Poe. “How many Dr. Solo’s can there be at Swansea University?”  
“Why Rey? What’s wrong?” added Finn.  
Rey looked like she was about to be sick.

“He’s my personal tutor…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Olympics is on, so updates might be a little slower than they have been.  
> I've got everything planned out, so it will be finished.


	6. Chapter 6

Rey had an agonising weekend. She didn’t have any lectures with Dr. Solo on Friday and she was too scared to go and find him. She spent the whole weekend miserable, torturing herself imagining how much Dr. Solo must hate her now. How could she have been so stupid as to break her favourite lecturer’s son’s nose?! Things had been going so well, and then she’d got comfortable and ruined it all. This is what she got for trying to leave her past behind. She should have stayed in the stupid foster home and gone to the local community college and been what the system expected of her. But no, she had to want something more. She had to put her brains to use. Where had that gotten her? Probably in a whole load of trouble with Dr. Solo, that’s where.

Rey dragged herself to lectures on Monday, both dreading them and being glad they would be over. Her lecture with Dr. Solo wasn’t until after lunch though and Maz, one of the friends she had made picked up on her mood while they were eating in the canteen together.  
Maz was a short girl with cropped dark hair and had lived in Swansea all her life. Rey liked her because she gave good advice, even if she didn’t want to hear it. They’d sort of bumped into one another near the start of term and when they kept seeing each other around campus, a very natural friendship had sprung up.  
“What’s up with you today Rey?” Maz asked as she poked her fork into today’s pasta special. “You look like you’re waiting to be taken to the gallows.”  
“It feel like I am,” Rey put her sandwich down half eaten. It tasted like sawdust. She’d be seeing Dr. Solo in less than an hour.  
“I’m sure it’s not that bad, come on. Spill.”  
Rey filled Maz in on what happened on Thursday and Maz was shocked, but not at the part Rey wanted her to be.

“I can’t believe that Dr. Solo has a son that could be so cruel!”  
Rey snapped her fingers in front of her friends face. “Not that point of that story. Okay, it is an important point, I do not want to know him any better than I do, but the main point is DR. SOLO IS GONNA KILL ME!”  
Maz shook her head. “You don’t know that.”  
“Ugh,” Rey rolled her eyes. “What else is he planning on doing, I broke his son’s nose! I am so screwed.”  
Maz pushed Rey’s sandwich towards her. “Eat, what comes will come. I think you have a pretty solid defence. It’ll be grand.”  
In reply Rey just laid her head down on the table and groaned.

The air in the lecture hall felt so close Rey was sure she would suffocate before the lesson was over. She’d sat as close to the back of the hall as she could, trying to avoid Dr. Solo’s gaze. She didn’t want to see the accusatory stare she was sure he would have. It was a real shame that her intestines felt like snakes because the lesson would have been fascinating to her in any other situation. Rey wasn’t even sure what she was going to do. Should she talk to Dr. Solo at the end of the lecture, or should she just slip out unnoticed? She spent the whole lecture agonising over it and as a result didn’t hear a word of the content or write a single note.

Far too soon and at the same time long overdue, the lecture came to an end. Rey still hadn’t decided what to do and walked down the steps dragging her feet. Dr. Solo was packing up his laptop and Rey decided that she was going to just walk straight past him. She put her head down and clutched her untouched notebook to her chest as she took the final step and headed towards the door.  
“Oh, Rey. A word please.”  
Rey’s heart dropped like lead. This was it. He was going to kill her. Hell’s teeth, what had she done? In her desperation, words spilled out of her mouth like a waterfall, Rey was mortified but unable to stop them.  
“Dr. Solo, I am so sorry, I didn't know, if I did I wouldn’t have done it, but he was just there and the dog, and I was just after lacrosse practice and my blood was hot and I had to do something and it all got a bit out of control, but I didn’t mean it and I am so sorry.”  
Dr. Solo looked at her. “Rey, what are you talking about?”  
Rey’s eyes widened, did he really not know? “Um, your son… His nose…”  
“Oh that.” Dr. Solo’s face took on a grim look, but Rey got the feeling it was less at her, and more at Kylo Ren. “Look, what Ben does on his own time is no concern of mine. If he got himself into a situation where someone needed to break his nose, that’s not my problem. That’s his.”

Rey was speechless. Dr. Solo really didn’t mind? Her brain grasped onto the only piece of information from that sentence that it could. “Ben?”  
“Yeah, Ben.”  
“I thought- Finn- Someone said his name was Kylo.”  
Dr. Solo sighed, and suddenly he seemed old to Rey. “Ben decided to change his name a few years ago. His mother and I-” He broke off and smiled brightly at Rey. “That’s not important. What is important that I have a friend in town, he owns a garage, and needs someone to work a few hours over the weekends. I said I had a very talented student that might fit his needs.”  
Rey felt like her brain was melting out her ears. She’d come into the conversation expecting something terrible and instead she was getting offered a job?!  
“Why me?” she managed to choke out.  
Dr. Solo shrugged. “You work hard, and you’ve got natural talent. I figured you’d want a chance to expand your skill set.”  
The hesitation from Rey must have gone on too long. “I mean, if you don’t want it-” backtracked Dr. Solo.  
“No, no, it’s not that,” said Rey quickly. “It’s just that…”  
What was it? Why was Rey hesitating over this? What was she waiting for? She had no one to ask permission, no one that would offer her advice. She only had her own gut feelings and experience. Sure she was scared of disappointing Dr. Solo, of making mistakes, but that was how she would learn, right? Rey took a deep breath and looked her tutor dead in the eye.  
“I’d love to take it.”  
“Perfect! I’ll email you the details!”  
And with that, he was out the door, leaving Rey thoroughly confused about how fast her situation had changed, but very pleased nonetheless.

Finn had spent the weekend being texted photos of Bee by a very happy Poe. The first one was of a downcast Bee on a grey floor. “BB-8 at the vets. She’s not happy :(“ read the caption. In the next one she had a soft bandage on her front left paw. “Brave little soldier”  
Finn replied with a “hope she gets better soon.” and Poe shot him an emoji thumbs up with a little dog face beside it.

Hours later Finn’s phone buzzed again and there was another photo waiting for him. It was a selfie this time, Poe in bed with Bee tucked in beside him, under the covers. “Someone didn’t want to sleep alone tonight” the message read and Finn smiled. Poe had a pout on his face, his deep brown eyes wide open, bottom lip stuck out in cartoon upset. He genuinely looked like he was in bed and not just pretending for the photo. Finn would never be so bold as to send someone he hardly knew a photo of him in bed. But, Finn reminded himself, Poe hadn’t sent a photo of himself, he’d sent a photo of his dog. Poe just happened to be in it. That’s what Finn repeated to himself anyway before shooting a quick “good night” to Poe and turning in himself.

There was a text message waiting for Finn when he woke up on Sunday.  
“I told you things come in three’s”  
The time stamp said 7.26 am. Damn, Poe got up early, thought Finn.  
“???”  
“When we met. I told you things come in 3s. You got Bee back to me. That was the 3rd thing.”  
“Oh. I guess ur right.”  
“0:) I’m always right.” “Srsly, thanks Finn.”  
“It was the right thing 2 do.” “Been wondering, what breed is she?”  
“Cocker spaniel. Had her for a few years. Never lost her before tho”  
“1st time for everything.”  
“And a last.” “How are classes?”  
“Good. Wish we had more practicals tho. I think I’m a bit of visual learner.”  
“U can do some of my experiments. lol”  
“Thought I already had. ;)”  
“Ouch. If you’re for real, I think there’s a job opening for a part time tech in the lab. Want me to check for you?”  
“Really?! Thatd b cool!”  
“I’ll find you on Monday with the details.”  
“See you then.”

After that the rest of the day passed quickly for Finn. He went swimming, went shopping and after a disproportionately large amount of time, managed to find Rey on Facebook. Her profile picture was her in a sports kit, holding a trophy and looking extremely happy. It was a nice photo and made Finn want to know the girl in it better. He sent her a friend request, but something told him that Rey didn’t check the site very often. Still, it would be waiting for her then when she did.


	7. Chapter 7

Before November was over, Finn had settled into the routine of working part time in Swansea’s lab. On afternoons he didn’t have his weekly practical, he pulled on his lab coat anyway and helped the other technicians in whatever needed done. A lot of it was preparing practicals for the next day but sometimes they would need a spare pair of hands in some research that was being done. Finn learnt a lot. He also saw a lot more of Poe Dameron. Like Finn suspected the first time he met him, Poe Dameron was a guy you wanted to know. He was funny, kind, helpful and most of all, treated everyone with the same amount of respect. Snap, one of the full-time technicians would roll his eyes overtime Poe made a stupid joke (which was a lot) but he would laugh anyway. Life in a lab was a lot less serous than Finn imagined it would be. One day he came in to discover that someone had put the smallest of small fragments of iron sulphide in the mixture of an experiment so that when hydrochloric acid was added to it, the lab was overwhelmed with the smell of rotting eggs. Finn learnt that all the crustaceans in the marine lab were named after Star Wars characters, the lobster that kept loosing its claw was called Luke, which made him laugh.

The work was only a few hours a week, but it kept a few extra pounds in his pocket and a lot of extra knowledge in his head, so Finn was extremely grateful for it. Most days he worked Poe would finish up at the same time as him, and the two of them would leave the lab together. Poe would throw on a battered looking leather jacket he always wore regardless of the weather and walk with Finn to the bus stop on campus. It wasn’t that far, but Poe would wait with Finn until the bus arrived, clap him on the shoulder and say “See you later buddy.” before walking back to his own home.

After a particularly bad week of nights out and not getting up in the morning to go swimming, Finn decided he really better get back in the pool. Swansea had an Olympic sized pool and Finn really enjoyed swimming in it. Buying a yearly pass to it had been one of the things he’d splashed out on at the start of term. So after lab on a Thursday, we went back to the Student Village, had a quick dinner and then got the bus back down to the pool, his swimming kit securely in his bag.  
He had a relaxed session in the pool, cutting through the water easily. Swimming gave Finn time to calm his mind down and mull over things that had been bothering him. As of late, his swimming had been somewhat peaceful. Back at boarding school, thoughts had flown around his mind like bats, violently trying to escape until Finn thought he would go mad. He assumed the peace of mind meant he’d made the right decision in coming to Swansea and studying a subject he was interested in, as opposed to staying in London and studying something he didn’t want to, like his school had wanted.

Tonight the pool was relatively empty. Finn took the rare chance to dive straight into the pool, the water closing over his dark skin, enveloping him like a duvet. The water was chilly but Finn soon warmed up pulling himself with a long, reaching, front crawl. After 20 lengths he switched to breaststroke. 80 lengths and several more stroke changes later Finn climbed out of the pool, showered and grabbed a chocolate bar from the vending machine for the bus home.

It was that strange time where there wasn’t a lot of students heading back to the Village, but there were plenty heading into town. As a result, the bus that Finn was getting pulled up and seemed to vomit up Freshers, leaving an almost empty vehicle for the return journey. Finn flashed his bus pass and settled into one of the seats further back with plenty of legroom. BOB always hung around campus for a few minutes before heading off and Finn was soon lost in the game he was playing on his phone. He didn’t notice Rey slip onto the bus right before it took off, her lacrosse stick by her side as if it was a part of her.

They were past the hospital before Finn lifted his head. He saw her straight away. He’d been half looking out for her since their encounter with Bee and Kylo Ren. Finn had figured her unique three bun hairstyle would be easy to spot, but he’d never seen her around campus. Of course, for all he know, she could be studying something that meant she was hardly ever around, or kept her on a totally different section of the university campus than him. Finn didn’t know if Rey had seen him or not, but he was damn sure that he was gonna make her see him.

Standing up, careful not to press the stop button, he walked down the bus and sat down in the double seat behind Rey.  
“Hey,” he said. Rey started at his words and turned her head. “Long time no see.”  
She smiled at him in greeting. “I accepted your friend request.”  
“That you did. Does that mean we’re friends now?”  
Rey shrugged. “You friends with everyone you have on Facebook?”  
“Well, I don’t dislike anyone I’m friends with on it.”  
“Alright then, we’re friends.”

It only took the length of the bus journey for Finn to get Rey out of her shell. Underneath the shy exterior she was funny, and enthusiastic, and quite frankly amazingly clever. Finn had never met someone that knew so much about space travel before. He told her so.  
“I’m nothing compared to some of the lecturers in the department,” she waved his compliment off with a smile. “Dr. Solo is the most amazing person ever. Some of the theories he’s come up with have completely changed how we think about space travel. Sometimes I think he’s actually a space pirate that got stranded on Earth somehow.”  
Rey blushed as Finn laughed at her last comment.  
“It’s silly, I know.”  
“No I love it! That would make a great story. ‘Intergalactic space rogue stranded on planet for decades. He has to help contribute to the technology of the native species so that one day, they will know enough to allow him to get home.’ I’d watch that film.”

The bus pulled up to the Student Village bus stop at that moment and Rey stood up, picking up her lacrosse stick.  
“I’ll be too busy contributing to that knowledge to write it.”  
Finn followed her off the bus. “Someone else might. I’ll let everyone know it was your idea.”  
Rey gave Finn a look that showed she didn’t believe him, but declined to say anything. She turned to leave but stopped as Finn spoke again.  
“So same time next week?” asked Finn.  
“Huh?”  
“Same time next week? I assume you finish practice around the same time.”  
“Yeah, I do, but I don’t-“ Rey was flustered. “Why is that- what?”  
Finn shrugged. “I thought it would be fun if we rode the bus back together. I can start swimming on Thursday evening easily enough. It’s always nice to have a bit of company.”  
“But sometimes I go for a drink with my team mates afterwards. Then you’d be waiting for me.”  
“Just text me.”  
“I don’t have your number.”  
Finn smiled. “That’s fixed easily enough. Look, gimme your phone.”  
Rey looked uncertain, then fished it out of her bag before handing it over.

That was how Finn found himself spending a bus ride with Rey almost every Thursday evening. He enjoyed it, Rey quickly became one of his closest friends. Conversations with her were uncomplicated and always illuminating. She was one of the first people at Swansea he told about the fact he had grown up in the foster system. He thought she wouldn’t judge him for it and he was right. In return Rey confided to him that she too had grown up in the foster system. She’d been abandoned as a young child and could only remember bits and pieces about her family. She knew they’d promised to come back for her, but they never had. They’d never even written. By the time she’d turned 18 and had the option to go looking for them she’d decided not to. Clearly they didn’t want her, so why should she want them? Finn hadn’t had an answer for that. He’d just hugged her tight when they said goodbye that night and Rey had hugged him back, just as tight. It was in that moment that Finn knew that Rey really and truly trusted him and that knowledge made him value her friendship all the more.


	8. Chapter 8

“You cannot actually be planning on eating that stuff!”  
Finn turned around at the sound of Poe’s now familiar voice and grinned bashfully.  
“Look man, it’s nearly the end of the term, and I’m kinna broke right now.”  
“Yeah but this?” Poe lifted the 19 pence packet of noodles out of Finn’s basket and waved them in his face. “This is like eating cardboard.”  
Finn snatched the packet back off his friend. “Weren’t you a Fresher once?”  
“Only briefly,” Poe laughed.

Finn regarded him as he did so. Poe was wearing that jacket he wore everywhere, a high collared wooden jumper on underneath it. His dark jeans were tucked into boots, a scarf held loosely in one hand. December had just arrived and with it the cold weather had come blowing in from the ocean. Finn knew that, technically, living by the coast was warmer than living inland during the winter, but right now it sure didn’t feel like it. Even quidditch practice couldn’t make him warm enough to remove the white beanie Finn seemed to be wearing everywhere. Once he’d forgotten his gloves, and Finn had thought summer would come before his fingers warmed up again.

“What are you here for anyway?” asked Finn, now Poe had stopped laughing at his own joke.  
“Same thing as you buddy. Or maybe not actually. I’m here for food.”  
“Har har,” replied Finn. “I’ll be fine.”  
A frown creased Poe’s rugged features. “Are things really that bad?”  
Finn shuffled his feet. Unlike most other students he didn’t have somewhere to go for the four weeks holidays they got. He was spending Christmas week back in London with a friend, but hadn’t wanted to impose on them for the whole month. Instead he was staying in Swansea, studying (or that’s what he told himself), and hanging out with Rey. His student loan had to stretch that little bit further than everyone else’s.  
“I’ll be fine,” Finn repeated, more firmly this time. He would be. So he might go into his overdraft a bit (or a lot), but he could earn that back over the summer. “Catch you later Poe.” Finn turned away wanting, for the first time ever, his conversation with Poe to be over.

“Hey wait,” Poe caught him by the shoulder. “Sorry buddy, didn’t mean to offend. Why don’t you come to dinner at mine tonight? I’m making chickpea curry.” He waggled his eyebrows at Finn. “I’m told it’s extremely good.”  
Finn laughed. It was hard to stay grumpy with Poe, especially when it wasn’t specifically Poe’s fault Finn was being grumpy with him. One free dinner wouldn’t save his bank account, but hey! Free dinner.  
“Well what kind of student says no to free food?” asked Finn.  
“A terrible one,” replied Poe smiling at Finn, his eyes twinkling with the reflection of the white supermarket lights.

That evening found Finn in an area of Swansea he wasn’t yet familiar with. He knew the Uplands was a mostly student residential area, he and his current housemates had looked at a few houses for next year up this way, but he’d yet had cause to explore it fully. Google maps located the right street for Finn and he used his eyes to locate the right house.  
Finn bounced on his feet as he waited for his knock to be answered. There was a faint pounding of music leaking from inside the house. Finn hoped Poe had heard his knock. He didn’t know why, but he’d had this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach since getting changed for dinner. He was just having dinner with a friend. Nothing to feel weird about. That’s what Finn kept telling himself anyway, not that that had made the feeling disappear.  
He hadn’t been waiting long before he heard the clatter of feet on the other side of the door, there was a few clicks and the door was thrown open to revel a short girl with narrow eyes and dark hair wearing all the colours of the rainbow.  
“HELLO!” she exclaimed, more at him than to him. “You must be Finn!”  
She was swaying as she held onto the door frame and Finn wasn’t sure what to make of it.  
“Come in, come in!” she continued, stepping back to let Finn past. “Poe is here. He is making dinner. I’m Jesika. Hello Bee!”  
“Hello Bee,” said Finn, bending down to pat the dog that had just appeared. She was much friendlier towards him this time, letting him make a fuss of her while Jesika disappeared off down the hall calling for Poe. Eventually Bee got bored and trotted off after Jesika. Finn followed.

Finn reached the kitchen door at the same time as Poe came flying out through it.  
“Finn!” Poe shot out his hands, grabbing onto Finn’s upper arms to prevent them from colliding. “Sorry, I didn’t hear the door. Jess has just told me you’re here.”  
Finn brushed off the apology and returned the greeting as he followed Poe through into the kitchen. As he took a seat at the kitchen table Finn glanced around. The room was white (or more of a grey now), cupboards on the walls and under the countertops, but the cooker and fridge looked in better condition than any student house he’d seen so far. He assumed that was because Poe was a PhD student. He either had more money available, or just was prepared to have less to have a better kitchen. Judging by the smell coming from the pans on top of the stove Poe was good at cooking, so maybe it was the latter. Poe was busy stirring the contents of the pans and adding more ingredients. Finn watched him chop a few herbs and throw them in. Poe hadn't changed since this afternoon, his jeans still tucked into his boots, but the jumper was gone, revealing a well fitted t-shirt with an indecipherable pattern on the front.

“Smells good,” Finn remarked.  
Poe smiled at the compliment but before he had a chance to answer, Jesika spoke up.  
“Poe can make shit taste good, can’t you Dameron?”  
‘Charming as ever Pava,” Poe frowned at his housemate. Turning to Finn he continued “This is Jess by the way. I have no idea why I live with her.”  
“It’s because you looooooove me.”  
“Don’t you need to leave soon?”  
“Trying to get rid of me already?” Jess turned from Poe to Finn. “The Queer Club is having a Rainbow party tonight. That’s why I’m dressed like this.”  
“Don’t call it that,” chided Poe, picking up the almost empty wine bottle off the table and pouring the last trickled of it into his already half full glass.  
“I can call it whatever I want,” retorted Jess. “I’m the President.”  
“Social secretary,” corrected Poe.  
“Pfffft, I basically run the whole thing. Without me, no fun times would happen, and then where would the club be? Nowhere! I am the reason it exists. Plus I’m the biggest queer there. Big ol’ Bi-Pava.”  
“As you can see Finn, we have been drinking. Well, Jess has been drinking. I have been sipping.”  
“I’m not as drunk as you think I am.” She leaned back in her chair. “Just a little to get me started. I was trying to persuade Poe to come you know Finn.”  
Finn glanced at her, surprised at the sudden inclusion of him in the conversation.  
“I don’t want to go,” said Poe.  
“But there’s such nice boys there!”  
Poe gestured at Finn. “Excuse me, you’ll offend our guest.”  
Jess rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”  
“Thank you for the concern over my love life Jess, but stop it. I don’t need to go to your socials to meet men. This may come as a surprise to you, but I am an adult.”  
“Whatever,” Jess stood up abruptly. “One of these days you’ll cave. Right now, I need to go. Laters boys!”  
And with that, she was up and out the door. Poe and Finn heard the front door slam and all they were left with was the music blaring from the speakers on the windowsill.

“So that’s Jess,” grinned Poe as he turned the music down. “Normally she’s more sober than that. She studies Drama,” he added in conspiratorially, as if that explained everything. It kind of did.  
Finn made a noise of understanding from his throat. His mind was too busy whirling to form a witty sentence to reply with. Poe was gay! Finn had suspected as much, even though the issue had never directly been addressed in the lab. Did Poe know Finn was gay too? Did he suspect? Finn didn’t try to hide his sexuality, but he also didn’t think he’d ever specifically said. If Poe was gay, and he thought, or knew, that Finn was gay too, did that mean he’d knowingly invited him over for dinner on a night that he knew his housemate would be out? Shit, was this a date?!

That thought was foremost in Finn’s mind as Poe announced dinner was ready and Finn had to set the table. While Poe directed him towards the correct cupboards and drawers so he could set the table Finn settled his mind. By the time he’d taken plates and cups out of the cupboards, and cutlery from the drawer, Finn had managed to convince himself that this literally just was a friend hanging out with a friend. Poe had never given him any other indication that this might be a date, Finn’s mind was just running away with him. The last thing he wanted to do was make this weird.

“So, beer, cider?” Poe called, his head stuck inside the fridge. “What you drinking? We could open another bottle of wine if you like.”  
“Beer’s fine,” replied Finn, standing awkwardly beside the table, not sure if he should sit down yet or not.  
Poe pulled a couple of beers out and placed them on the table.  
“Sit down Finn, you’re making me nervous.”  
“Sorry,” said Finn as he promptly sat down.  
Poe just laughed and shook his head. “I’ve never really met someone like you, you know that?”  
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”  
“It was intended as one.” Poe had brought two pans over to the table and set them down between their plates. “Excuse the lack of serving bowls. I can’t be bothered with that much washing up. Help yourself Finn.”  
“That’s okay,” said Finn as he spooned rice onto his plate. “One of the girls in my flat eats straight out of the pan. Like when she has pasta or something? Doesn’t even bother with a bowl, puts the sauce straight in and then eats it from the pan.”  
“I mean, that’s kinna genius when you think about it,” said Poe. “That really saves on washing up. Even if eating from a saucepan does sound a little wrong to me.”  
“Me too. It’s not like a bowl is that much extra washing. Poe, this is really good,” Finn added in, pointing at his plate. And it was. Finn had never tasted chickpeas so good. To be honest, Finn had thought he didn’t really like chickpeas, but whatever Poe had done to them made them taste amazing. So full of spice and flavour. It tasted like Finn’s tastebuds had died and gone to heaven.  
“Thanks, don’t be shy, take as much as you want,” said Poe.  
Finn did. He managed to put three plates of the delicious concoction away before he was full. Poe had two.

Time passed easily for Finn in Poe’s company. The older man was quick witted and genuine, making Finn laugh with every other sentence that he came out with. That weird feeling he’d had in the pit of his stomach hadn’t gone away, but it had morphed into something gentler, something that he didn’t mind experiencing so much. Being this close to Poe for so long, it was hard not to notice little details about him like the creases of skin curving upwards at the edges of his eyes, or how even his his face was resting his lips turned towards his eyes making it look like he was always enjoying the moment, and the fact his fingernails were bitten down to the quick.  
Before Finn knew it, he and Poe were sharing the sofa in the living room close enough that every time one of them laughed their knees knocked together. Conversation had moved onto interests and films. Poe liked sci-fi, big epic world building movies with grand symphonies and clear cut heroes and villains. Finn preferred gritty action films, ones where the hero was grey and camera-work that almost made you sick with its movement.

“I can’t believe you’ve never seen Jupiter Ascending!” exclaimed Poe, one hand on Finn’s shoulder and the other in the air in disbelief.  
“I mean, I saw trailers for it. And reviews!” replied Finn. “The reviews were not good.”  
Poe stood up. “I am not having someone in my house that’s never seen the greatest film ever gifted to mankind. You’re going to sit there Finn, and we are going to watch Jupiter Ascending together.”  
“What?! No! Poe!”  
Finn made a grab at his friend’s arm but it was too late, Poe had already turned on the TV the DVD was playing so quickly that Finn could have sworn it was already in the player.  
“I’m being serious buddy, this film is great. Let go of your tough action expectations and go with it. It’s pure glitter and glee.”  
That didn’t sound like fun to Finn, but he watched the film anyway. To his surprise he found that within 45 minutes he was totally into it. The first epic action sequence had him on the edge of his seat and he actually let out a sigh of relief as Jupiter and Caine touched down safely. Finn felt eyes on him and turned to see Poe looking at him and smiling.  
“Shut up,” Finn joked before turning his attention back to the story at hand.

When Jupiter arrived at Kalquie’s planet Poe stood up, placing his hand on Finn’s lower thigh to do so.  
“Back in a sec,” he said and when he removed his hand, it left behind a warmth where he’d touched Finn that Finn couldn’t quite explain.  
By the time Poe returned Jupiter was in what seemed to be that 7th circle of bureaucracy hell and Finn was busy tittering to himself at the clever parody of the whole thing.  
“And my deepest condolences,” said Poe darkly along with the character onscreen as he (Poe) deposited a large bowl of popcorn onto Finn’s lap. Bee, who was lying on a beanbag, lifted her head at the smell but Poe told her it wasn’t for dogs and she gave a deep sigh as she tucked her head back into her front legs.  
“Thanks,” said Finn to Poe as he sat down beside him, close enough so that he could grab popcorn, but a little closer than was strictly necessary. Finn could feel the heat radiating out from the t-shirt Poe was wearing and shifted his body ever so slightly so that their knees were touching. Poe didn’t pull back and Finn felt that feeling in his stomach twitch a little.

After the popcorn was finished and Jupiter had refused to let Caine kill Titus, Poe pulled the coffee table closer to the sofa so he could put his feet up on it, boots and all. Finn followed suit and they finished the film like that, side by side on the sofa, legs on the table touching but not quite against the other, Poe quoting his favourite lines and Finn smiling to himself when he did.

Poe looked at Finn expectantly as the credits rolled up the screen.  
“It was good.”  
Poe whooped. “I love that film man. The world, the characters, the effects. Ugh, it’s just so good. And fun. I miss when films didn’t take themselves too seriously.”  
“A pair of those hover boots would make quidditch a lot more fun,” admitted Finn.  
That statement stopped Poe’s delighted rambling. “Quidditch?” he raised an eyebrow at his companion. “Like, broomsticks and golden snitches quidditch?”  
Finn let out a nervous laugh. “Uh, yeah. I play quidditch for the uni.”  
“Wow, wow, wow. Rewind. Swansea? Quidditch? As in the sport in Harry Potter?”  
“Yes!” Finn punched Poe’s arm playfully. “I play muggle quidditch. I’m a chaser on The Seven Swans, Swansea University’s team.”  
Poe took in a long dramatic breath. “Oh my god… You’re a massive nerd!”

Finn knew Poe was only teasing him and he was happy to play along, acting affronted at his treatment.  
“One, I’m an enthusiastic supporter, and two, quidditch is amazing! You’re just jealous because I play an amazing sport and you don’t.”  
“I gotta see this for myself, when do you guys practice?”  
Finn pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up youtube as he answered, his shoulder leaning against Poe as he shifted his body weight. “Wednesdays and Sunday afternoons.”  
“I’m busy then,” sighed Poe taking the phone Finn handed to him, a video of a muggle quidditch match playing.  
“That’s incredible,” he said when it was over. “You have got to let me know next time you have a match. I really want to see that in real life.”  
“We’re not that good,” admitted Finn. “But if you really want, I’ll let you know. What do you do on Sundays anyway?”  
It was fairly obvious to Finn that Poe was in the lab, or doing some form of work on Wednesdays, but as far as he knew, Poe never came into the uni on the weekend.

“Lifeboat training,” replied Poe. “You know the pager I carry with me sometimes?”  
Finn nodded. He’d seen the old-fashioned looking device clipped to Poe’s waist band on a number of occasions and always wondered about it, but never got a chance to ask.  
“That means I’m on duty. If there’s an emergency and the lifeboat is needed, it beeps, and I drop everything and run.”  
Finn must have looked really impressed because Poe suddenly became the closest to self-conscious he’d ever seen him.  
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Poe said hurriedly.  
“But you rescue people when it does.”  
“Yeah, well. It’s not always people. You’d be surprised at how many people call about their dog getting stranded somewhere. And a lot of the time they don’t even need us. Someone was just over cautious. But rather that than the alternative I guess.  
“That’s a pretty impressive thing to do Poe. It must be dangerous.”  
“Yeah well. It’s in my blood. And we’re trained not to put ourself in danger to save someone else. You’ll both just end up in trouble.” Poe bit his nails. “I guess I never thought of it like that. I just want to be able to help people.”  
Finn smiled softly, suddenly overcome with a sudden wave of gladness that he knew this kind and gentle man that still had something wild about him. Finn thought how strange it was that they’d even ended up in each others lives. A few chance encounters and here they were, sharing moments like this, knee to knee on a sofa in a not-quite grimly, but not too far away from it flat.

Despite the fact Finn wasn’t noticing time passing, eventually his body did. All it took was one large yawn and a glance at his watch to realise that he’d been at Poe’s for almost 7 hours, for Finn to suddenly feel tireder than he’d done in a long time.  
“If I don’t leave now, I’ll be doing the Walk of Shame with none of the fun stuff beforehand,” protested Finn as Poe tried to convince him to stay longer.  
“I’ll not take that as a personal insult against my company,” Poe joked, walking with Finn to the front door. Bee followed them curiously, roused from her sleep by their movements.

“Oh, hold on a sec!”  
Poe disappeared back down the corridor. Waiting for him to return, Finn squatted down to say goodbye to Bee. She gave his hand a quick lick in thanks for the ear scratch and Finn assumed that that meant they were friends now, any misgivings she might have had against him finally gone.  
Soon Poe returned, holding an old take-away carton full of chickpea curry which he held out out Finn.  
“I alway make too much,” he said with a smile.  
Finn took the container a little hesitantly, he didn’t want to be seen as a charity case, but Finn knew that that’s not what Poe was thinking and that curry had been really good.  
“Thanks man,” he said stepping out the door. Finn paused there for a moment. Part of him wanted to hug Poe, it had been a really good night, but he didn’t know if that would be weird or not. Besides, he had this curry in his hands now, hugging with that would be a bit awkward. He didn’t want to leak tomorrow’s (or today’s really) dinner all down Poe’s back. After a brief moment in which neither boy made a move Finn broke what was threatening to become an awkward silence.  
“Um, see you later then.”  
“G’night Finn. Thanks for coming over, I had a really nice time.”  
“Me too,” replied Finn. “Thanks for dinner.”  
“Any time buddy. Get back home safe okay?”  
Finn nodded and Poe smiled as he closed the door, waving briefly through the gap before it shut completely. Finn heard the click as the key turned in the lock and sighed. Glancing up at the cloud-covered sky he wondered how much a taxi would cost, and if the price was worth avoiding the 45 minute walk. He’d decide on the way Finn thought as he lightly descended Poe’s steps to the street and set off home under the orange glow of Swansea’s street lights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm terrible at dialogue. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think it is.


	9. Chapter 9

Finn only saw Poe a few more times before the holidays and he might have been imaging it, but Finn was sure that Poe was touching him more than he used to. Nothing major, just little things like brushing fingers if they passed things to each other in labs, a hand on the lower back or arm as Poe passed him while Finn worked at a bench, the goodbye shoulder clasp lingering a little longer than it used to.

“You’ve got it bad!” laughed Rey one rainy day. They were hanging out in her house, it empty apart from the two of them. In fact, it felt like they were the only two in the whole of the Student Village.  
“I do not!” protested Finn. “He’s just a friend!”  
“No Finn, we’re friends,” she replied, a smile on her face. “You fancy him.”  
Finn felt like a fifteen year old again, protesting his innocence to a teasing classmate. Except this time… No, he didn’t fancy Poe, did he? Sure he was nice, and good-looking, but a fresher and a Ph.D student? That was insane. Besides, Finn had only ever liked a few people in his life, the chances of him actually fancying one of the first people he met when he arrived at university? That was slim. Finn just enjoyed his company, that was all.  
Rey laughed. “If you were white, you’d be as red as a beetroot right now.”  
“Only because you’re pestering me so much!” shot back Finn, laughing as he did so.  
The sounds of their joy faded away and Finn spoke kindly into the easy silence that it created.  
“You sure you’re gonna be okay?”  
Finn was leaving the next day for London. He’d be gone over Christmas and New Year, while Rey was staying in Swansea and Finn worried about her.  
“I can look after myself Finn. Sorry,” she continued seeing Finn’s fallen face. “I know you didn’t mean it like that. I’ll be grand. I’ve got a few extra shifts down at Chewie’s Motors and actually Maz invited me to hers for Christmas Day.”  
“Rey, that’s great! Why didn’t you tell me before?”  
Rey shrugged. “I guess I’m just getting used to having friends. I don’t really know what you want to know.”  
Finn smiled gently and laid a hand briefly on her arm, “Rey I want to know that you’re not spending Christmas Day alone.”  
“Well, now you do.”

Rey didn’t like physical contact all that much, so when Finn eventually said goodbye to her he held his hand up for a high five like usual. Rey gave his hand a good solid slap.  
“Have a good break Finn.”  
“You too Rey, don’t work too hard, okay?”  
Rey smiles to herself. It hadn’t taken Finn too long to notice her compulsive habit of working to keep the loneliness at bay.  
“I promise I’ll text.”  
“Merry Christmas Rey.”  
“Merry Christmas Finn.”

Finn’s holiday passed quickly. Slip, the friend he was staying with, was excelling at Imperial College London but hating it. Another victim of their school system. Talking to Slip and thinking about how happy he himself was at Swansea made Finn feel so glad that somehow, he’d managed to break away from what was expected of him. Despite the free tuition, despite the contacts he had access to, despite all the skills life at boarding school had given him, something had never felt quite right to Finn about it. Following his heart out of there had been the best thing he ever did.  
Finn made sure he texted Rey everyday, even if it was just a text to tell her what insane thing he’d seen on the street that day. She always texted back, but never offered up too much information about her own day. Finn didn’t worry too much. Like she’d told him, she could take care of herself.

Poe Dameron was spending Christmas back in Cornwall. He didn’t have much free time; his days were filled with visiting relatives and old friends, writing up parts of his research, and spending quality time with his dad. Still it was nice to be busy in the familiar setting of his childhood home. Christmas Day came and went in a flurry of cold winter winds and rain showers, but at a New Year’s party he avoided the square-jawed man with green eyes who had been glancing his way all night. He wasn’t in the mood. It wasn’t until a buzz of his phone showing a “happy new year!!!!!” text, that Poe realised he was missing a certain black skinned Fresher with full lips and dark eyes more than he thought he would.

Kylo Ren was having a terrible time. He and Hux had had a vicious argument before term finished and as much as Kylo hated to admit it, Hux was the closest thing he had to friend at university. His tutor Dr. Snoke had found out who his parents were and Kylo was convinced he was treating him differently because of it. To make matters worse no lectures meant no excuse for not hanging out with his parents. His father was spending more time than he ever had down with his old buddy Chewie, always coming home with stories of some new girl working there called Rey. His mum tried to make conversation with him but honestly Kylo could not be bothered with it. She didn’t really want to get to know him, any affection she showed him was simply guilt for sending him to boarding school for seven years. At least his father didn’t try to hide his his disregard for him.  
On Boxing Day Kylo threw a plate at his dad after Han asked if he’d thought about taking any modules apart from physics ones next term.  
“Stop trying to control my life! I’m not going to study engineering!” Kylo’s screams brought Leia from the living room in a hurry.  
“That’s not what I was asking,” Han replied, trying so hard to keep his voice even but not quite succeeding.  
“You’re father just wants to make sure you’re getting the most diverse education you can Ben,” added Leia.  
Kylo rounded on her. “MY NAME IS KYLO!”  
“I didn’t-”  
But not wanting to listen Kylo stormed past her and out of the house. He didn’t come back. His parents had never cared for him, he didn’t need them. From now on they were nothing to him.

Rey on the other hand was having the best Christmas she’d ever had. Well, she supposed that she must have had nice ones when she was younger, but she couldn’t remember those very well. This break however, had been filled with texts from her first ever proper friend, amusing shifts with Chewie, the extremely tall owner of the garage, and Dr Solo saying her could call her Han because he hated being called Dr as he’d never felt like a doctor of engineering, just someone who liked space travel.  
Maz insisted she stay over at her house on Christmas Eve and for Boxing Day, but despite her friend’s protests, Rey wasn’t comfortable staying any longer than that.  
She spent New Year by herself, celebrating by finally finishing the engine simulator she’d been working on for weeks. It was designed to throw up problems that could arise with engines during long-term space transits, helping with people’s problem solving, and lateral thinking skills. She was pleased with it, even it was was quite simple. Rey wished she had someone she could trial run it on, but Finn was useless at that sort of thing and she didn’t want to bother anyone else. Yawning and stretching Rey decided she’d think about who to test it on tomorrow. Her bed was calling her at this very moment, and the sooner she went to bed, the sooner it would be before Finn got back from London. She missed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a boat for the next week for work, so the next chapter will be up after that. :)


	10. Chapter 10

Eventually students began returning to Swansea after their winter break. They came in drips and drabs first, some studious ones returning up to a week before January exams began, others floated in a few days before necessary and the others slammed back into the city the day before term officially started. Suddenly campus was busy again and the Student Village teemed with life. Rey had to readjust herself again to the amount of people around. It was only on their return that she noticed how content she had been in their absence. Perhaps one day she would move somewhere remote, away from all other people. Somewhere like a desert.  
The upside was that Finn had returned from London. He’d seemed genuinely impressed when Rey showed him the reactions her program had gotten from the online community she’d found to test it.  
“So are you gonna put it in the app store or something?” he asked, once she’d said told him that all the bugs had finally been ironed out.  
“I dunno,” she shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I just built it for fun really. Thought it would be a cool resource.”  
Finn tapped Rey’s phone as he handed it back to her. “This is really impressive Rey. You should at least show it to Professor Solo.”  
Rey blushed, sliding her phone back into her pocket. “You really think Han would be interested? He told me to call him that,” she added in quickly in case Finn thought she was taking liberties.  
“Yes.” Finn said the word with as much genuine emphasis as he could without sounding sarcastic.  
“Maybe after exams then,” she said, rather noncommittally.  
Finn groaned at the very mention of the dreaded ‘E’ word. Rey chuckled. “Revision not going to plan?”  
“There’s just so much of it! I can’t believe I have another two and a half years of this to go!”  
“Maybe Poe could help you with it,” Rey said slyly, making Finn scowl at her.  
“You don’t give up do you?”  
“Nope!” Rey replied proudly. “Now get out of my room and go do some work.”  
“Fine,” retorted Finn standing up. “But only because I’ve seen the damage you can do with that lacrosse stick.”

Finn didn’t see Rey for a couple of weeks after that. Her lacrosse practice wasn’t back on until all exams were over and their conflicting exam schedule kept them from being able to spend a decent amount of time together. He didn’t see Poe either. It was funny Finn mused one day, how small a place could be and yet you could still go weeks without seeing someone. Not that he was missing Poe or anything thing. It would just be nice to catch up after the holidays, that was all.  
Eventually however, exams were over and Finn began to get excited about starting his next set of modules and life settling back into a familiar rhythm. Before that however, the Student’s Union was holding an end of exams party. Or it was using the end of exams as an excuse to have a party more like. Finn and his housemates were all heading out together. They had another reason to celebrate too, having just signed the lease on a reasonably priced house for the next year. Finn was looking forward to having a good night out, drinking and dancing with his mates. He also knew that there would be plenty of other friends at the Union when he got there, quidditch friends, course friends, other people he knew from random things. Rey was constantly surprised at how many people Finn knew, but socialising and getting along with people was something that came naturally to Finn. He didn’t even notice he was doing it.

After dinner and pre-drinks at their flat in the Student Village, Finn and his friends piled into BOB along with what felt like half of the village to head down to campus. Finn was wearing his favourite grey shirt, dark jeans and a pair of new crisp white trainers, his short hair was newly cut and Finn had shaved away any lingering exam-beard that morning. Filled with a few beers and surrounded by friends, he was feeling pretty good about the evening.

Campus was heaving. It wasn’t just Freshers celebrating the release of exam pressure, it was second years, final years, older students too that didn’t necessarily have exams but still wanted to party. By the time Finn had arrived, the party had spilled out of the union throughout the entirety of Fulton House. He and his housemates fought their way to the bar, bought a round and then headed off to the dance floor. The music was so loud that there was no chance to communicate, nor was it necessarily needed at this stage. They just let the bass pump through their feet and up their bodies moving with it, made careless by alcohol and youth. Bodies clashed against one another, more beers were bought, more songs sung at the tops of their voices, girls danced with, boys danced with, drunken greetings exchanged and Finn was in the middle of it the whole time loving life, loving the choices he’d made to bring him here, loving that this was even a possibility for someone like him.  
Eventually however, the group of them split off as it always did on nights out. There were pretty girls and boys to dance with by themselves, distractions on the way back from the toilet, drinks to buy. After one particularly energetic song Finn found himself out of alcohol and out of breath and in desperate need of fresh air.

The balcony of Fulton House was relatively unoccupied. Unsurprising considering that it was on the other side of building from the main party, but Finn preferred to look out over Swansea Bay as a break than skulking out the back amongst the smokers and drunk couples making out in full view.  
The night was still and crisp. In the background Finn could hear the slight pounding of dance music and was glad of the colder winter air. He stood with his dark arms resting on the edge of the balcony letting his gaze and mind wander, not thinking about anything in particular, just enjoying the moment. 

A sudden increase in the volume of noise as the door opened made Finn turn his head to see who was arriving on the balcony. To his surprise, it was Poe who had just just slipped through the sliding door into the fresh air. He was wearing stonewashed jeans, a bright orange t-shirt that shouldn’t look good on anyone, let alone Poe and his iconic leather jacket. Glancing around, Poe’s eyes almost immediately settled on Finn, who’s stomach lurched unexpectedly at the eye contact.  
“Should’ve known you’d be out tonight,” smiled Poe as he walked over to join his friend at the railings.  
Finn smiled sheepishly. “Am I that easy to read?”  
“No,” replied Poe who had settled so his shoulder was just touching Finn’s. “It’s only that the entirely of the first years appear to be out, and half of the other students too.”  
“Oh,” said Finn who was almost disappointed that Poe hadn’t made a comment about how well he knew him. Not that that would have made any sense. “You want a drink?” Finn asked, noticing his friend’s empty hands.  
Poe shook his head in response and tapped the pager Finn hadn’t noticed. “Sober night for me, I’m on-call for the lifeboats.”  
“Oh.”  
“Do you want one?”  
“No. I just wanted some air.”  
“Right.”

A silence fell between the two boys, and Finn, who had been looking forward to seeing Poe again suddenly found he was nervous in his presence. Poe didn’t seem entirely at ease either and Finn began to wonder if he’d done something without realising.  
“So, uh, did you have a good holiday?” asked Finn, grasping onto the easiest subject to try and get rid of the tension that he felt was hanging between the two of them.  
“Pretty good yeah. You?”  
“Yeah, pretty nice. Went back to London for a week… Where’s your home?”  
“Cornwall. They say my family has been there since the time of the Spanish Armada. My relatives were probably Spanish sailors shipwrecked there. Or slaves from the ships…” Poe opened his mouth to continue, paused and then decided to go for it. “How come you were only at home for a week?”  
His tone was soft and gentle, not accusatory at all. Finn and Poe had never spoken about their home lives much, Finn knew as little about Poe’s as Poe did about his. It was probably his own fault thought Finn. He was so guarded about his past with everyone, never wanting to admit that he didn’t have a family of his own. But tonight… Maybe it was the tone of Poe’s voice, or the alcohol flowing through his veins, or the way Poe looked at him with those light brown eyes like he was something special. Tonight it didn’t seem so hard to spill the secret of his past. It all came tumbling out before he could stop it, or even think about it.  
“London’s not home for me. I don’t have a home, not really. I don’t have any family. I grew up in the care system, won a scholarship of the First Order when I was around 10 and have been in their boarding school ever since. Well, until I got here I guess. So I don’t have anywhere to go at the holidays. I don’t want to intrude on other people’s lives at Christmas, so I just spent a week with an old friend and then came back here. That’s okay though, I hung out with Rey and studied. And swam quite a lot.”  
Finn stopped there. He hadn’t realised until that very moment how much he’d wanted to tell Poe about how he grew up. He’d been tired of the vagueness around his childhood stories and it wasn’t like he was ashamed of being an orphan, that was hardly his own fault, but people in the past had treated him differently once they found out and he hated taking that risk with it. Poe though, he knew wouldn’t treat him in any other way that he had been. Finn was only just now noticing how safe he felt in Poe’s presence, how comfortable their relationship was, and instinct told him that Poe would treat him the same, no matter what he told him.

“It’s just me and my Dad at home,” Poe said in reply. His voice was quiet, his word coming slowly, unlike Finn who’s words had tumbled out into the night uncontrollably. “My mum died about seven years ago. She was rescuing a teenager who had gotten into trouble with their yacht. She did what you’re always taught never to do; put your own life in danger to save someone else. He’s helping communities in Madagascar protect themselves against malaria right now.”  
There was a pause in the air between them.  
“Poe, I’m so sorry.” Finn touched his friend’s arm as a comforting gesture and Poe faced him a half smile on his face.  
“It’s okay. She taught me a lot, Dad and I are getting on okay. She’d be proud of what I’m doing.” He turned back to look at Swansea Bay.  
“You what I love about Swansea Finn? I love how connected it is to the sea. How you can see or feel it from practically anywhere in the city. I don’t think I could live anywhere that wasn’t near the coast. The ocean is powerful, but it can also be kind. You just need to respect it and read it’s moods, but most of all not to be afraid of it. Look how pretty it is,” Poe gestured with a sweep of his arm. “All the lights from Mumbles over to Port Talbot, the blinking of fishing boats and marker buoys, the reflection of the moon and stars. I could never hate the sea Finn, it’s too vast for that. Hate has no effect on it, only love does.”

As if to mark Poe’s words, a sudden gust of wind came sweeping up from the Bay and the chill of it made Finn shiver.  
“Shit man,” said Poe suddenly. “You’re just in a shirt. You must be freezing. Here take my jacket.”  
Finn tried to protest, but Poe had already shrugged if off his shoulders and draped it over Finn’s, enveloping him in a sudden warmth and Finn understood why Poe wore it everywhere.  
“Thanks,” he said.  
“Don’t mention it.”  
Although Poe had deposited his jacket around Finn, he hadn’t removed his arm. It was still there, slung casually across Finn’s shoulders, his hand brushing his collarbone. The physical contact was making Finn’s heart beat like a freight train and he wanted to say something, but Poe got there before him.  
“So this quidditch thing, you must have a Hogwarts house then?”  
“Hufflepuff,” Finn replied automatically, despite the sudden change of subject. “Loyal to the death.” He turned to face Poe, Poe’s arm sliding off his shoulders down to his hip, his other hand creeping onto the one Finn had on the railing. Finn linked their fingers and moved ever so slightly closer to the older boy. They were within inches of each others heights, Finn wondered how he’d never noticed that before.  
“What about you? Everyone’s thought about their house at some stage.”  
“Gryffindor,” replied Poe, his voice breathless, the two of them glancing at each others lips. Finn felt like time had slowed down, Poe’s hand on his waist was slowly drawing their hips together and somehow Finn’s fingers were caressing Poe’s forearm. “Brave to the point of recklessness…”  
He leaned in to Finn and Finn could hardly believe what was happening. He was about to kiss Poe Dameron. Poe Dameron, charming PhD student, best geneticist in the university, was roughly one inch away from his lips and that distance was rapidly shortening…

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!

“Shit, shit, shit!”  
The sudden noise made Poe jump back, grasping for the pager at his waist.  
“Fuck, shit, Finn I am so sorry, I have to go!”  
He was already halfway across the balcony before Finn had a chance to react.  
“What about your jacket?!” he called after him.  
“Keep it!” replied Poe. “It suits you!”  
And then he was gone, through the balcony doors and out of Finn’s sight, leaving Finn alone in the night air, with nothing but the sound of the ocean in the distance and Poe’s jacket on his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all are ready for some cliffhanger feels!!!  
> Only a few chapters left of this work!


	11. Chapter 11

Finn wasn’t sure what to expect the next day when he went into the lab to work feeling slightly strange wearing Poe’s jacket. Was Poe going to mention the fact they’d almost kissed? Was he going to ask him out on a date? Should Finn ask him out? Should Finn try and give his jacket back to him, because surely Poe hadn’t really meant for him to keep it?  
There was a million and one questions that were running through his head that afternoon as he hung up Poe’s jacket and pulled on his own lab coat. His stomach was doing something weird and Finn had to give himself a short mental pep talk before actually walking into the lab.

Of all the things he had been expecting, Poe not actually being there was not one of them.  
First of all Finn suspected that Poe was just out in another lab for a bit, either grabbing equipment or talking to a technician, but after a few hours his curiosity got the better of him and he asked Snap where Poe was.  
“Didn’t you hear?” said Snap. “Poe was out all night with the Lifeboat. They were looking for a wee girl who fell of the family yacht. He’s taken the day off. Which is unsurprising. I would have too.”  
“Oh, right. Flip.” Finn tried to ignore the disproportionate disappointment he was experiencing at learning he wasn’t going to see Poe today. “Did they find the girl?”  
Snap nodded. “Yeah. Thankfully. She was taken straight to hospital but she should make a full recovery.”  
“That’s good,” replied Finn, thinking of Poe’s mother sacrificing herself to save someone else against training, and wondering if Poe would ever do the same thing. Finn didn’t want to find out the answer to that question.

The rest of his time in the lab that afternoon was somewhat quiet. Finn got on with the tasks he had been assigned, working around everyone else who was getting on with what they had to do. When it came to the end of the day, he swapped his white lab coat for Poe’s jacket and walked to the bus stop, alone. There he pulled his phone out of his pocket and after swiping away a few inconsequential Facebook notifications opened a new text message to Poe.  
He was still staring at the black screen when the bus arrived.

The problem was that now Finn had admitted to himself that he liked Poe, and he had fairly solid evidence that Poe liked him back, what was he to do about it? How was he supposed to compose a text that acknowledged what had happened last night, without being too direct? Should he even text him today? If Poe had wanted to talk to him, surely he would have texted by now?

Eventually Finn punched in some words to his message, just to get it started. Then he deleted them. He tried again. Nope, not that either. After some trial and error, and just before the Student Village, Finn hit send on a message he wasn’t necessary happy with, but was content with.

“Hey Poe! Brought ur jacket to lab 2day. Snap said youd been out all night. U ok?”

It wasn’t really flirty, but it addressed the night before and asked something to continue on the conversation. Hopefully Poe’s reply would give Finn a better idea of the tone to take. Finn headed back to his room to make his dinner and try not to check his phone too often.

That last part didn’t really play out as planned. Finn took twice as long as he normally did to make his spicy mushroom and tomato one-pot rice dish because he kept setting down the knife every five minutes to look at his phone, even though he knew there was nothing there because he hadn’t heard it beep.  
A couple of his housemates wandered in to see if he wanted to hit up Woody’s, the bar in the Village for a few drinks, but Finn declined. He had a lit review he needed to get started on, and last night had been enough for him for the week.  
Still no message.  
Finn did the washing up, putting the leftovers in a takeaway container for the next day.  
Still no message.  
He went downstairs and checked his emails, checked Facebook and had a quick look at the day’s news headlines.  
Still no message.  
He opened a blank word document and his essay brief.  
Still no message.  
Finn slowly started searching for papers relating to diversity in the Galapagos Islands. He’d just started reading about the most recent study done on Darwin’s finches when his phone beeped.

Finn almost leapt across the room to grab his phone from his bed, where he’d put it in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent himself from checking it every minute.

“Hey Finn. It was a still night so we found the girl pretty quickly. v low risk operation. thankfully she’s gonna be fine. All team members fine 2. told you to keep the jacket. you not like it?”  
“no i like it. thanks.” “Glad ur ok, u gonna be in lab next week?”  
“good. :) actually no. got a pretty sweet email today from Napier. They’ve got space in 1 of their research labs for me for a bit. leave in a couple of days!!!”  
“That’s awesome!!! Congrats!”  
“Thnx Finn. I can’t wait to see around their histology unit. Should get some great work done there!”  
“I’m sure you will. How long u think ull be away for?”  
“Dunno yet, hopefully be back before Varsity.”

Finn’s stomach sunk at those words. Varsity was months away. Easter practically. He wasn’t going to see Poe until then? After what happened last night? He knew he was being selfish, but part of him wished that Poe wasn’t going away. Napier was all the way in Edinburgh, Scotland. It wasn’t easy to get to and from, from Swansea. There was no way Poe would just be popping back to Swansea for the weekend. All the excited words he wrote to Poe seemed hollow to him after that.

“Wow, good length of time. Great for running tests. What about Bee?”  
“She’s coming 2. Jess said she’d pine without me. Managed to find a pet friendly apprt. Gonna be a long journey tho! Hope my car’s up to the job!”  
“Sounds like you got evrything sorted.”  
“Spent all 2day doing it.” “Once I’d woken up.”  
“Nice. Thats grt news Poe. :)”  
“:) Thanks Buddy. I’ll let u know how I’m getting on.”  
“Look forward to it.”

Finn had debated telling Poe he’d miss him, but decided against it. Poe hadn’t been sending out any flirty signals in that conversation at all, past reiterating the fact he could keep his jacket. Finn glanced across his room at it, hung on the back of his door. He could picture Poe in it, like he’d seen him so many times before. Poe loved that jacket, it was well worn and had creases in the leather at the elbows from the bend of Poe’s arm. Surely giving that to Finn meant something significant? It had to, right?

\---

“Ugh! I just can’t get over the audacity of that boy!”  
Rey was on the beach with Maz, both of them bundled up against the cold wind blowing off the sea.  
“I mean, can you get any more arrogant than sticking your hand up in the middle of a lecture to tell the professor they’d misspelt something on a lecture slide?! It was so rude!”  
Maz shrugged. “Maybe he had a rough childhood?”  
“If he did, he brought it on himself. Han is great, everyone speaks highly of Professor Organa, and Kylo Ren went to the same school as Finn, and Finn’s the sweetest person I know!”  
Maz shot Rey a sideways, yet knowing glance. “Sweetest person you know eh?”  
“He’s gay.”  
“Oh.” Maz shrugged again. “Look Rey, some people are just jerks. Has he been bothering you in class?”  
“Apart from shooting me the dirtiest glance you’ve ever seen when I first walked in, no. Not yet anyway,” Rey added rather darkly.  
“So leave him. Ignore him, listen in lectures and get the highest mark in the exam come May. Just like you did in every exam you took in January.”  
“I didn’t come first in every module.”  
“Whatever, you came second in one. It’s way more impressive than my scores.”  
“You did alright. First year doesn’t count anyway.”

Maz laughed. “It’s a good job too. Otherwise I’d actually have to put some effort in. I’m saving that for next year!”  
Rey laughed at that too. “You should join lacrosse with us next year Maz! You’d enjoy it.”  
“Pfffft,” Maz waved the suggestion away. “You know I’m not built for sports. They choose the Varsity team yet?”  
Rey shook her head. “Not officially yet, but can you keep a secret?”  
Maz grinned, “Of course!”  
“Gwen whispered to me after practice this week that I was most likely to be on the team!”  
“Nice!” Maz high-fived her friend. “I knew you had it in you!”  
“Thanks!” Rey winked her nose up as she smiled. Making the Varsity team as a Fresher was quite an achievement, and she had no intention of letting the side down.  
“You wanna head back? It’s getting cold, and I need to head to work soon.”  
“Sure thing. I think my fingers are getting numb…”  
The two girls chuckled and headed back towards the University and warmth, both glad that the weather would be on the turn soon.


	12. Chapter 12

With Poe gone, all the life seemed to have gone out Finn’s lab job. There was still good banter, practical jokes and lessons to be learnt, but without Poe there to smile at and laugh with, Finn found everything that little bit more muted. No one else in the lab seemed to notice a change in him, and he was glad of that. He had a feeling explaining to Snap that he missed Poe might be a bit more difficult than explaining it to Rey.

He’d told Rey about the Almost Kiss. Of course he had. In all honesty, Finn hadn’t had much of a choice. Trying to explain why he was wearing Poe’s jacket now was a little bit too difficult without the pre-story. In fairness to Rey, she’d had a very controlled response, just grinning at Finn in a way that let him know she was thinking I told you so, but wasn’t going to say anything. He’d thrown his apple at her to get the look for her face and she’d caught it without even flinching before taking a bite from it.  
But that was all. She’d not mentioned it since and Finn appreciated it. He was having enough trouble working out how he felt without someone else asking him probing questions about it.

Despite Poe’s promise, Finn hadn’t heard from him since he left Wales and Finn didn’t know what that meant. Was Poe just too busy to text him, or was he taking the opportunity of being out of the country to not talk to him? Finn wished he and Poe had more mutual friends so he could get an idea of what was going on without directly asking. Jess was never anywhere Finn was on campus, and even if he did happen to bump into her, Finn wasn’t sure that the interaction they’d had that night at Poe’s was enough basis for using her as an information hub.

So Finn continued on as he had done the past few months, playing quidditch (going to London one weekend for Snitch training), taking notes in his lectures, going on nights out and riding the bus home with Rey after swimming. The difference was this time he had a new leather jacket. One that he suspected he shouldn’t wear as much as he did, but he liked wearing it. It made him feel like Poe’s arms were around him.

“Oh for goodness sake Finn!” Rey exclaimed one night. “Just text him already!”  
“What?” Finn was confused. They’d been talking about Varsity a second ago.  
“Poe Dameron. Just text him.”  
Rey was looking at Finn like he was stupid.  
“I - What? Huh?”  
“You haven’t heard from him right? So just text him. You get this mopey look on your face when you think about him. He’s probably just really busy in Edinburgh, or thinks you’re really busy here. So text him and ask how Scotland is. Start the conversation.”  
“I don’t-“ Finn was so flustered at the sudden change of topic. “Do I really get a look on my face?”  
Rey rolled her eyes.  
“Finn, you’ve spent the last four weeks walking around the dude’s jacket. Which he gave you after almost kissing you. Text him, before I steal your phone and do it for you.”

Finn wasn’t sure if Rey was joking or not. He never got a chance to find out either because right at that moment BOB pulled into the Village bus stop and the doors hissed open.  
“See you later Finn!” Rey called, hurrying off the bus before Finn realised what was happening.  
“Bye! Rey…”

Later that night, after Finn had done his laundry, had a shower, checked up on the current news events and gotten into bed, he pulled up the photo that Poe had sent him months ago of Bee and himself in bed. Poe didn’t have a shirt on, the caramel colour of his shoulders visible above the duvet line. Finn had been trying to avoid looking at too many photos of Poe in his absence. Just seeing the light of his eyes in digital format, and being able to spend as long as he wanted gazing at particularly nice photos of Poe made him remember too much. It made him dwell on the moment where their lips had almost touched, how Poe had sat just that little bit too close to him when watching Jupiter Ascending, how in lab Poe put his hands on Finn’s hips as he passed him in the tight space between lab benches.

Sighing, Finn closed the photo down and opened his message screen. Rey was right, he was allowed to text Poe first, they were still friends after all.

“Hey Poe! How’s Edinburgh treating u? I hear winter in Scotland lasts 4ever. Its actually starting to feel like spring here.”

Finn checked his alarm for the next day was set and put his phone down. He wasn’t expecting a reply tonight. Hoping yes, but not expecting. He flicked the light off on his bedside table and pulled his duvet up. It might be starting to feel like spring, but there was still a chill in the air, especially at night.  
Finn had barely closed his eyes when a loud buzz from his phone made him start. He reached for it and flicked open the message that had come through.

“Edinburgh’s great thnxs! Napier is amazing! Having so much fun & learning loads. Hows lab?”  
“Boring. Lack of cheesy puns. Snap managed to spill dirty tank water in2 his wellies last week tho. It was hilarious.”  
“XD sounds amazing. Wish id seen it. U been pinched by Luke yet?”  
“Somehow, still avoided that 1. Despite some ppls best (or worse?) efforts.” “How is Bee?”  
“Don’t worry, he’ll get u 1day. B’s loving the city! So many new smells & places to walk. I think she gets lonely when im out tho.”  
“U need a doggysitter.”  
“I do. U know any good ones?”  
“Well, I reckon B & I have a pretty good track record.”  
“That u do. We’d love if u could come visit.”  
“I’m not cheap tho. Probably out of your price range.”  
“Id pay you in curry. And other foods of your choice.”  
“Now that’s an offer im tempted by.”   
“Bee would be v happy to see you.”  
“Alas, my education is an inconvenience 2 this brilliant plan.”  
“Shame. They say degrees are worth less & less these days tho.”  
“You suggesting I drop out of uni and become a full time dog-sitter?”  
“And dog finder! Come on, there’s bound 2 be a market for that.”  
“Probly not 1 that pays v well.”  
“Oh well. You can dream.”  
“Probably not about dog-sitting tho.”  
“Yeah, alright. Still think you’d b good at it.”  
“lol. Maybe in another life. Or over the summer…”  
“:) I knew you'd come around to it.”  
“… We’ll see.” “Gotta hit the hay :( got a 9 am with Captain Birds Eye.”  
“Man I love that guy. He always tells you whats coming up in the exams. Night buddy. Have a good day 2morro.”  
“You too. Night Poe.”

Finn set his phone down again and snuggled back down under his covers. It wasn’t long before he was sound asleep, a small smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know when I started this I had a 10 chapter plan? It got a bit away from me... lol


	13. Chapter 13

For the next few weeks Finn was so caught up in Varsity fever, like much of the rest of the student body, that he hardly even registered that Poe hadn’t contacted him since that night. Swansea was hosting the sporting event this year and on the morning tickets for the rugby match had gone on sale the queue was out the front doors of Fulton House. Varsity was by far the largest event in the sporting calendar for the university, possibly the largest even full stop. “Clash of the Giants” the posters read. “Green and White Army!” they screamed, the text stamped across the rugby team, or a selection of other sports persons, each holding an unique piece of sporting equipment.

Varsity took two forms; battle for the Shield and battle for the Cup. Swansea and Cardiff fought it out every year, alternating who hosted it. The cup was won in the late afternoon/evening with the two universities best rugby teams facing off in the host city’s professional stadium. As Swansea was hosting this year, that match would be played in The Liberty Stadium, buses being put on specially to transport the thousands of students who would come to watch.  
The Shield was the battle between all the other sports that both university had, like football, kickboxing and lacrosse. The winner of the Shield was whoever won the most disciplines. The Universities pretended that the Cup and Shield were of equal importance, but everyone knew that whoever won the Cup was the winner of the day, regardless of the Shield score. That being said, those who got to play as part of an Shield match still took it seriously. Swansea Vs Cardiff was the biggest grudge-match in Wales after all.

Cardiff didn’t have a quidditch team, much to Finn’s dismay, so he wasn’t going to be involved in the day, past putting a green t-shirt on and yelling as much as he could.  
Rey however was personally involved. She and the rest of the lacrosse team had been practicing hard since the winter exams finished and Rey was feeling hopeful about their chances.

“We’re working really well together,” she told Maz one lunchtime. “I think we’re gonna do really well. We played Cardiff before Christmas, and we only just lost. I think we might get them this time.”  
“Tidy,” replied Maz. “I know you’ll be giving it your best regardless. I can’t wait to see you kick some Cardiff ass. I’ll get a really big flag to wave. With your name on it.”  
Rey laughed. “Please don’t. You can stand with Finn though, he’s going to come support us too.”  
“Oh he is? I am glad I’m finally going to meet this mysterious friend of yours.”  
“It’s not like I’ve been keeping the two of you apart. I’m surprised you don’t know him already to be honest. He seems to know half the university.”  
“Well, next Wednesday he’ll know half the uni plus me,” Maz smiled. “I can’t wait.”

 

“So what time is your match at again?” Finn asked Rey.  
“Eleven. You don’t have to come if you don’t want Finn.”  
“Rey. I want to come. I want to see you’re actually supposed to use that lacrosse stick for,” he teased.  
Rey laughed. “Okay. Maz will be there too. Maybe you two could stand together.”  
“The one you spent Christmas with?”  
“Yeah, that one. She’s the very short, very Welsh one. You’ll know her when you see her.”  
“Right…” Finn said pulling a skeptical face.  
“That’s the best description I can give you,” Rey replied. “Trust me you’ll know her.”

 

As usual, Rey was right. Finn arrived at the lacrosse pitch at quarter to eleven the next day and immediately spotted Maz. She was wearing a white Swansea varsity t-shirt paired with black shorts and Doc Martians, from her back pocket hung a large flag and she was shouting the occasional “Come on Swansea!” in a very strong Welsh accent while the two teams warmed up.  
Finn approached her, his hands in his pockets.  
“You must be Maz,” he stated as a way of introduction.  
Maz looked Finn up and down. “Uh huh. And you must be Finn. About time we met.”  
There was something slightly unsettling about Maz’s gaze, as if she was looking straight through you. Finn took a half step back from her and she giggled, like she knew she had that effect on people.  
“You excited?” she asked. “I’m excited.”  
“Yeah,” Finn nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve never actually seen lacrosse played before. Although I have seen Rey use her lacrosse stick. To great effect I might add.”  
“Oh right. That incident with Kylo Ren, right? COME ON SWANSEA!!! Did you know she’s got a class with him at the moment?”

Finn was surprised. Rey had never mentioned it to him. What on earth was Kylo Ren doing in an engineering class? Back in school he’d pursued his career in physics with a single mindedness that reminded Finn of a dog with a rat. He said as much to Maz.

“Oh it’s not an engineering module,” she told him. “It’s a physics module.”  
“What? Rey never told me she was going to take a physics module this term.”  
Whipping her flag from her back pocket, Maz pulled a face.  
“You ever think she tells you some stuff and me some stuff? Like she doesn’t want to overwhelm either of us with too much information about her?”  
Finn contemplated that as he watched the teams have some sort of wrestling match with their sticks to start the game.  
“I dunno. Maybe I guess…”  
That did seem like the type of thing Rey would do. After all, hadn't it taken him directly asking her for her to tell him she was spending Christmas at Maz’s? Finn was so friendly, he sometimes forgot that Rey was such an introvert, and wasn’t as comfortable talking about herself as he was himself. And hey, didn’t he have secrets too?

Cardiff started the match. Finn watched the ball fly around as he continued his conversation with Maz.  
“So is Kylo Ren giving her any bother then?”  
Maz shook her head. “Not yet as far as I’m aware. I think he’s just being a massive jerk at every opportunity to everyone possible. Including the lecturer.”  
“Figures. He thinks he’s some massive physics genius. He is smart, I’ll give him that, but his social skills are seriously lacking. Delusions of grandeur comes to mind…”  
Maz snorted at that. “Small world that the one person Rey ends up having beef with is also the son of her personal tutor, right? It was his idea that Rey take the module you know.”  
“Dr. Solo’s? I wonder why.”  
“Rey said something about him thinking it was a good idea to get as broad an education as possible. That you never knew what modules - BOO CARDIFF!!! - would end up being useful in your career.”  
Finn nodded. “I guess that makes sense. COME ON REY!!!”

Rey had taken the ball, and within seconds, had set up the perfect shot which allowed her teammate to score!  
“WOOOOOOO!!!!” Finn and Maz both did a little dance on the sidelines and from that point on, their conversation was forgotten.

If Finn had though Quidditch, a full contact, mixed gender sport, was brutal, it was nothing compared to lacrosse. Within the first half, four girls had been briefly taken off for first-aid and one Cardiff player was running around with blood caking around the split lip she’d gotten in a tackle.  
Finn had never seen Rey like it. She was alive on the pitch in a way she wasn’t anywhere else he’d seen her. Sprinting from one end to the other, saving as many points as she scored and holding nothing back in her full frontal tackles to gain possession. It was eye-opening, and Finn silently told himself to make sure he never got on the wrong side of a lacrosse player.

By the end of the first half, Cardiff was leading 7-5, a small lead, but one that was capable of opening up if Swansea dropped their defences.  
Rey gave Finn and Maz a quick wave and smile as she came off the pitch, but spent half-time with her teammates, discussing the plan of attack (and defence) for the second half. Gwen was encouraging, but also firm, like a good Captain should be. The entire lacrosse team went into the second half sure of their ability to win the game, but also cautious of throwing it away.

The second half was just as brutal as the first. Finn didn’t know most of the rules, but he thought by the end of the first half he had the basics down. In his opinion (which probably didn’t count for much) he though Rey and the rest of the team were playing really well. He’d taken a corner of Maz’s flag, and the two of them spent their time waving it and screaming as loudly as they could any time Swansea picked up possession, and screaming even louder when Rey had the ball.

Rey seemed to have gained confidence over halftime. Time after time, she tossed the ball into the scoring area, and set up her teammates, until Swansea had a narrow lead.  
“Five minutes!” Maz told Finn excitedly.  
“Come on Swansea!!!” Finn responded with. “You girls got this!!!”

They had. By the time the final whistle blew, the score was 15 to Swansea, 13 to Cardiff. Rey had scored 4 of those points and Finn and Maz were ecstatic, as were the rest of the Swansea supporters.

When it was appropriate, the two of them rushed over to Rey and patted her on the back. She was exhausted, but obviously pleased with herself and the team. She beamed at them as they told her how amazing she was, how great the team played and how well deserved the victory was.  
“Thanks you two. We did great. I’m glad you came.”  
Finn smiled, “Of course we came. Wouldn’t have missed it.”  
Rey just smiled back and took a long drink of water from her bottle.

“Come on Rey!” one of her team members yelled from a few meters away.  
Rey held up a finger in response. “I gotta go guys, I’ll see you later!”  
“Bye!”  
“Good job!”  
“Wooo Swansea!”  
Maz and Finn continued to yell support after the team as they picked their things up and headed back to the changing rooms.

“I’d better get off too,” said Finn. “I’m meeting my course mates to watch the rugby with.”  
“Same,” smiled Maz. “Nice to meet you Finn, I’ll see you around.”  
“I’m sure you will,” he grinned back, before heading off to campus to meet up with his buddies, whom he knew where at the bar in the Students Union there.

 

Swansea won the rugby match too.  
The atmosphere in the stadium was so electrifying Finn was sure that if his hair had been any longer it would have been turned into an afro. He and his friends spent the entire match screaming and wincing in equal measure. Finn had never really been into rugby enough to play it, but like the rest of the UK when it was a matter of pride, national or university, it was the most important thing in the world.  
After the match was over, it was off to Wind Street to celebrate. All the clubs and bars were packed, Finn and his friends hopped from building to building, hugging and celebrating with everyone they came across. It was past midnight when Finn spotted Snap from the lab and remembered that Poe had hoped to be back for Varsity.  
Pulling out his phone Finn typed a quick message to Poe.

“Wee won varsity1!!! You shold be here!”

Finn didn’t look at his phone again for hours, when he was back in his room and trying to plug it into the charger. There was little red notification in his message box and when he pushed it his conversation with Poe opened.

“Good news. Wish I was buddy. Get home safe.”

Finn sent a thumbs up emoji, the only thing he was capable of, before collapsing on his bed and not stirring until his alarm rudely awoke him the next morning for his 10 o’clock lecture.


	14. Chapter 14

With only two days to go until the Easter holidays, and no practicals after that, Finn had his last few days working in the lab. The fact that Poe wasn’t there on his last day upset him more than it should have. It’s not like Poe was his only friend in the bio-science lab. Snap and the others were all just as enjoyable to spend time with, and Finn had gotten to know then quite well in the months that Poe had been absent. No one threw him a leaving party or anything, it’s not like he was going anywhere. Plus, Finn had already been told that there might be a summer job for him if he wanted it, and defiantly next year during term-time. Finn had accepted the second one without hesitation, and said he was interested in a summer job, if there was one going. So really it was less like he was leaving the lab, and more like he was taking a break to revise for his exams.

Because that’s what he needed to start doing. After Easter, there was just a fortnight of lectures before the exam season started. Science degrees always had their exams later than the arts degrees, so Finn had about a week and a half of no lectures and no exams to study, but there was still a lot of material to make sure he knew. After all, he needed to pass these exams to get into the next year.  
While most of campus went home for most of, if not all of the holidays, Finn stayed in Swansea. He studied, messed around on his computer and swam when he wanted a change of scenery. He texted Poe a few times, but never talked about anything in particular and there was no mention of when he would be returning to Swansea. Finn wondered if he’d imagined everything with Poe, if that night on the balcony had all been a dream, a figment of his imagination. Maybe Poe had changed his mind, perhaps he had never liked Finn in that way at all, maybe he’d met someone up in Scotland.  
And yet, his jacket hung on the back of Finn’s door, a constant reminder of what had nearly happened between them. No matter how hard he tried Finn just couldn’t let it go.

Poe had arrived back in Swansea late one night soon after the holidays began. Bee was delighted to be back in the home she was familiar with, and with Jess who always made a fuss of her. Since then Poe had been splitting his time between the house, where he could be with Bee, and the library, where he was less likely to get distracted, trying to put the results of his experiments into some sort of order that he actually analyse them.  
Several times he’d opened messages to Finn, to try and write something, but each time something had stopped him. Bee wanted out, or someone asked him a question, or he realised he needed a book before going any further in his work. He wasn’t ready to admit that he might really like this boy, that Finn might mean the start of something he couldn’t control. So he told himself that Finn was probably busy with revision, or that Finn hadn’t almost kissed him that night, that he just said he liked his jacket to be polite. He pushed Finn out of his mind and focused on his work.

Winning his Varsity duel had brought Kylo Ren little joy. His opponent had been small and weak. Kylo had at least been hoping for a challenge, but had had little issue destroying the Cardiff student. At least he was confident about his exams. He was sure that he would ace them, just like he had done the January exams. The only thing bothering him was his parents, and that stupid girl in one of his lectures. The one that had broken his nose with a lacrosse stick, and the one, he had found out through Hux, was working at the garage of his father’s best friend. Every time he saw her in class his blood boiled. He would make her pay for the humiliation she had put him through, all he had to do was work out how.  
Her taking that physics module had to have been his father’s idea. Kylo knew Rey was in his tutor group and he was convinced that his father had told her to take the module. That would be just like his father, using someone else to get to him, trying to hit him where Han knew Kylo would feel it most.  
One day during the holidays, while he and Hux were stalking around town, Kylo’s foot kicked a dirty needle that had been discarded there by one of Swansea’s junkies. Looking at it with disgust an idea occurred to him. One that would get rid of this irksome father and punish that Rey girl at the same time. All he needed to do was work out how to implement it…

Rey was still high from her Varsity victory. She’d even gone out that night with the girls from the team and enjoyed it. It was an excellent way to finish the sporting year.  
Her academic year wasn’t over yet though and her last two days of lectures were crammed with information which she spent the first few weeks of the holidays trying to process. She was still working part-time in the garage too and occasionally Han would drop in on her shifts to see how she was getting on. Rey appreciated that. It was nice to think of someone older than her looking out for her for once.  
Growing up, Rey had never felt like the care workers really cared for her. She knew they must have in some respect, but they all had so many children in their safe-keeping, how could they have had the energy to care fully about each and every one? In Han, quite by accident, she had found someone to respect and look up to, and it wasn’t until she had it that she realised how much she had needed something like that.  
As she dug into her revision, making meticulous notes and testing herself frequently, she hoped that she would make him proud and he wouldn’t regret the chances he had given her.


	15. Chapter 15

It was a beautiful April afternoon near the end of the Easter holidays and Finn had cabin fever. He felt like he’d been locked up in the library in the Student Village for months, staring at diagrams of cells and finches, amongst everything else. In a fit of frustration, after not taking any information in that morning, he ditched his study materials in his room and caught BOB down to the Bay. He headed on foot towards Mumbles, the opposite direction of town and Tesco’s. That walk was too familiar to him to give the distraction he was seeking this afternoon.

It was warm enough not to need a hat and scarf any more, but was still cool enough that Finn zipped Poe’s leather jacket up as he walked along. The warmth in the sun was strong, but the shade still made it feel like winter. Poe passed the play park, empty of children at the moment, and then further on down the halfpipe. There were a couple of teenagers sat there, their legs dangling over the edge of the ramp, passing a cigarette between themselves.

A breeze blew off the ocean and Finn stuck his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath of the fresh, salt air. He felt the cobwebs of winter blowing away and smiled to himself. The tide was out, Swansea Bay a vast expanse of sand and mudflats, little shimmering pools of sea left behind in shallow bows. Gulls wheeled in the air, calling to one another either in anger or jest. It was always impossible to tell with seabirds. Behind him, Swansea seafront towered up, newly built apartment blocks poking into the sky. Further around the Bay from that, the factory chimneys of Port Talbot belched dark smoke into the air. At night you could spot the different coloured flames as they burned off chemicals before releasing the rest into the atmosphere. Ahead of him, Finn could see the long wooden structure that was Mumbles Pier, propped up far above the level of the sea. The outline of old-fashioned pier game stalls were just visible from this distance. Beside the pier the large Lifeboats building stood, its doors closed, its ramp steep and direct into the sea. Finn tried to imagine what it was like to launch the lifeboat down that ramp on a dark winter night, the swell large and wind strong. Was it scary? he wondered, or did the RNLI volunteers feel like they were just doing their jobs?

There were more people out than Finn had expected. Families with children too young to be in school, older couples with dogs, people like him just strolling and enjoying the sunshine. All of them passed him, some with a friendly smile, some ignoring him completely. Finn returned the smiles and didn’t let the others bother him. He was as much caught up in his own thoughts at they were theirs, he was sure.

All of a sudden a quick flash of white and orange caught Finn’s eye. Just coming around the bend in the path a small dog was trotting towards him. Finn’s brow creased, he recognised that dog…

“Hey Bee,” he muttered, crouching down to pat the animal that had run straight towards him and then stopped. “I though you were in Edinburgh with Poe…”  
“Finn!”  
The shout made Finn look up, and although it was the only logical explanation for encountering Bee here, the sight of Poe still took him by surprise. Finn had spent so much time trying not to think about him, about the way his shoulders filled out the jumpers he wore, the way the corners of his eyes creased when he smiled, and now here he was, looking better than anyone had a right to, and jogging gently towards him and Bee.

Finn stood up to say hello properly and was surprised by Poe embracing him in a hug, arms tight around him, chest to chest. Finn hesitated for a brief second out of shock before folding his own arms around the other man, trying not to focus on the fact he could feel Poe’s heart beating against his chest.  
Poe broke the embrace holding Finn at arms length for a second.  
“I was not expecting to see you here,” he smiled, genuine warmth coming through in his tone.  
“I could say the same thing about you!” said Finn. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Scotland?”  
“I got back a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been isolating myself trying to sort out my data and - That’s my jacket!”  
Finn blushed. “Yeah, I really like it…”  
Poe smiled again and bit his bottom lip, punching Finn gently on the shoulder as he did so. “I should hope so. It looks better on you than I remember.”

Finn’s felt his whole body tingle right down to his toes when Poe touched him and decided he needed to change the subject before he said something stupid.  
“Nice day huh?”  
Well, that was almost worse, thought Finn to himself cringing internally.  
Poe took a half step back. “Yeah, I thought Bee would appreciate reminding herself of what Wales smelt like. You just out for a dander?”  
“Um, yeah. I’ve been revising all Easter and I just really needed to get out of the library. Get some fresh air, you know?”  
Poe nodded. “I do. Were you planning on heading all the way into Mumbles?”

Finn out to Mumbles Pier and then down at Bee and up to Poe.  
“You know what? I think this is as far as I’m going to go.”  
Poe beamed, “Cool. Come on Bee, let’s go home.”  
Bee gave a happy little bounce at being talked to and jumped off down the path ahead of the two students.  
“She’s happy to be back,” remarked Finn.  
“Yeah, she’s not the only one,” said Poe, bumping Finn slightly with his shoulder as the two of them set off, walking in time with one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy election day Americans. Kylo Ren supports Trump.


	16. Chapter 16

Time seemed to speed up as the exams drew ever closer. Before Finn knew it, the holidays were over, and then his lectures were over, and then it was only a few days to his first exam.  
He and Poe were texting fairly regularly, although both of them were too busy to actually meet up. Neither one had touched on what had happened back at the start of the year, but Finn was less convinced that that was because he’d imagined it all. Still, there was that little nagging piece of doubt at the back of his mind. Luckily, he had too much other stuff to think about so never could dwell on that for too long.

The weather continued to improve as the exams got into full swing. The library on campus was suddenly crammed full of students, either packing all-nighters in before exams, or trying desperately to focus on the work they were unable to do in their rooms.  
At lunch the grass in front of Fulton House was a favourite place for people to sit, the steps covered in girls and boys, either throwing dirty looks or their crusts at the gulls that stalked up and down.

Finn had five exams and while he had a two on consecutive days in his first week, he was grateful for the fact he didn’t at least have any on the same day. Time management had been a bit of trial and error in January, and although he coped better with this set of exams it was still a work in progress. Still, he managed not to have to cram four months worth of lectures in to a single night of revision, which in his humble opinion was a win.  
Rey meanwhile, appeared to be the poster girl for time management. Any time Finn saw her in the library she was surrounded by neat stacks of books, her notes highlighted and colour coded, everything confined into the immediate space around her so she was never spilling onto her neighbour. Rey had had plenty of time over her life to perfect her revision technique, since she was small she’d poured herself into work and learning to escape the loneliness she felt if she was unoccupied for too long. Rey wasn’t organised out of studiousness, it was out of necessity.

By happy coincidence, Rey and Finn not only had their last exam at the same time, they had it in the same exam room; the gym. The bioscience students were all planning on heading off to Wind Street that night for a proper ‘start of the summer’ celebration and Finn was fully intending on joining them. He didn’t want Rey to be alone though, despite the fact she’s point blank refused to join them when Finn had invited her. She wasn’t even going to go out with Maz, or her own course mates, why on earth would she go out with his friends? she’d asked. Finn had been insistent that he wanted to celebrate the end of first year with her though, so they’d come to a compromise.  
Early dinner in town, walking back to the Village in time for Finn to head back in again with his friends. That satisfied Finn and Rey was secretly pleased that Finn was so keen to include her in his party. Even after all this time knowing him Finn’s enthusiasm still took Rey by surprise, but it always made her smile.

“So how’d you do?” Finn called to Rey through the throng of students outside the gym. Rey pushed her way past a group of upset looking boys and high-fived her friend.  
“Okay I think. I missed a few references, but that’s probably not the end of the world.”  
“References?!” Finn was aghast. “I was happy just getting the basic information in!”  
Rey chucked at him. “You’ll have done fine, I know you will. Besides, first year doesn't count right?”  
“You’re right. Come on, let’s go get some food.”

Finn and Rey had to pause a few more times before they finally made it away from the crowds of students analysing their answers. It seemed to Rey like Finn knew at least one person in every group that they passed, and they all wanted to say hello to him, or ask him how it went, or make sure that he was going to be out on the town later.  
“Mr. Popular,” she remarked to him under her breath.  
“It’s my natural charm,” he grinned back at her.  
Eventually though, they made it onto campus where they knew less people. Over the past few days it had been getting gradually quieter on campus as exams ended and people drifted back to dorms, or houses, or just away from the library.

Finn was busy recounting the story of his first ever disastrous exam when he was a teenager when Rey interrupted him.  
“What’s going on?” she asked, pointing towards parking lot in front of the engineering building.  
Finn looked over. There were several police cars there, lights flashing, but no sirens going off. A small crowd of nosey students had gathered around and were being kept back by an irritable looking female police officer. He shrugged in response to Rey.  
“No idea. Probably nothing important.”  
“Just seems a bit unusual…” mused Rey. She had bad feeling about the strange scene before her, but exactly why she couldn’t put her finger on.  
Finn shifted his backpack onto two shoulders so it was slightly more comfortable.  
“I’m sure it will be all over Facebook later if it’s something interesting. Come on, what do you fancy for dinner?”  
Taking one last lingering look at the engineering building, Rey turned her attention back to her friend and the summer that was stretching out before them.

A few hours and one Franky and Benny’s meal later, Rey and Finn were once again on their feet, this time strolling along the waterfront returning towards campus and then the Student Village. Rey had had a nice time with Finn, she didn’t feel so awkward around him as she did other people. Halfway through the meal it had really hit her that he was truly and properly her friend. She’d known that for ages of course, but something about the way he talked about the summer, and the rest of his uni life, including her in it without even thinking about it, Rey had one of those eyeopening moments where suddenly everything is clear, even if you’ve been seeing it for a while.  
Now she was happily enjoying the evening, knowing she had no more exams to work for, had a job for the summer and a friend who would be around too. Rey smiled to herself. Swansea finally felt like home.

Ding ding!  
Rey’s text tone pinged in her pocket.  
Ding ding!  
Ding ding!  
That was unusual, Rey though, she never got a lot of texts in one go. One of the people who contacted her regularly was walking right beside her and the other was probably halfway down a bottle of vodka right now.  
Ding ding!  
Finn looked at Rey.  
“You can get that you know,” he said. “It might be important.”  
“Unlikely,” Rey replied, but fished into her pocket anyway. “It’s probably just Maz, tipsy texting. Yup!” She waved the phone in Finn’s face. “Four new messages from Maz.”

A few quick taps with her fingers opened them, but instead of laughing or smiling at what her friend had written Rey’s face dropped.  
“Rey, what’s wrong?” Finn asked, a concerned look on his face. Rey had frozen in position, her face fallen into a look of pure disbelief. Finn actually saw the colour drain from her cheeks.  
“Maz says… She says-” Rey had to swallow the panic that was threatening her throat. “She says that Han has been arrested?”  
It was Finn’s turn to be stunned now. “Dr. Solo? But why?”  
Rey didn’t give a response, instead with trembling fingers she opened google on her phone and typed in a few words. Finn couldn't keep up with the speed she was scanning through pages so he stood beside her, waiting for Rey to talk to him again.

“It can’t be true…” she muttered. “It just can’t be…”  
Finn placed a concerned hand on her shoulder, the touch made Rey jump, like she’d forgotten he was even there in the first place. “Tell me what it says,” he asked her gently.  
Rey turned her eyes towards him, fear and upset mingled together in them. “They say he’s been arrested on drug charges. That a whole bunch of heroine and a set of scales were found in his office. Finn, it’s not true! Han wouldn’t do that! He’s not like that!”  
Finn just kept a hand on her shoulder, supporting her with his physical presence. He didn’t know what else he could do.  
“Finn this will ruin his career!” said Rey, panic creeping into her voice. “He’ll be let go from the uni, he won’t be able to do research any more. What am I going to do?!”  
“Breathe, Rey. Breathe,” Finn said. He wondered how on earth their evening had changed so quickly. “He’ll be fine. It’s just a bogus charge. When they realise it’s all a mistake, they’ll let him go and issue an apology.”  
“It says here that the police were tipped off by an anonymous tip.” Rey’s features suddenly changed. “Kylo…” she breathed out softly but confidently.

Finn was suddenly concerned. He didn’t like the look on his friends face at all. It reminded him of when he’d first met her, in the midst of that fight, blood pounding through her ears, grim determination and anger etched on her features.  
“You don’t know that Rey,” he started but Rey turned on him.  
“Don’t I? Who else would do such a thing? He planted those drugs there and then called the police. He would have known how to get into his fathers office. Hell, he probably stole a set of keys from their home! He’s behind this, he has to be!”  
“Rey, why would Kylo set his dad up like that?”  
Rey had started walking now, Finn had to jog a few steps to catch up with her.  
“To get back at me! He hates me, he probably thinks that Han told me to take that class with him just to annoy him! That’s not true at all. Kylo hates Han. Han’s never told me as much, but you can tell when you talk to him that they don’t have the best relationship. Finn! This is Kylo Ren’s doing I know it!”

Rey was walking so fast that Finn was struggling to keep up without jogging beside her. Part of him knew that Kylo was perfectly capable of such a vindictive act, but at the same time, what real purpose did it serve? Framing his father gave him no personal gain, it only tarnished Dr. Solo’s reputation. Unless that was all Kylo Ren was after. The destruction of his father’s good name.

“So what if it Rey? What can you do about it?” asked Finn in an attempt to calm Rey down, even just a little.  
“I DON’T KNOW!” yelled Rey, frustration and anger bursting out of her. “I can’t just wait Finn! He’s my mentor. He’s my… friend.” That last word stumbled out of her like she admitting to a secret she wasn’t sure if she should even know in the first place, or wasn’t sure if it was true or not.  
“I know Rey, but you don’t have any evidence, you can’t just go marching down to the police station and accuse people of things like that.”  
“Are you defending him?!”  
Finn was hurt. “No Rey! Of course not! I just don’t want to see you hurt, or caught up in this if you don't need to be.” Rey’s increased pace had carried them further and faster than Finn ever would have walked, and they were almost back at the university campus. The footbridge across the road that separated the campus from the beach swayed almost imperceptibly with the hum of traffic passing beneath it.  
“I’m not just ignoring this Finn! What if it’s my fault? That Kylo wanted to get to me through Han?”  
Finn wouldn’t have put it past his ex-Head Boy, but didn’t think this was the moment to voice that to Rey.  
“Look, why don’t we catch the next BOB back to The Village?” he asked. “Then tomorrow we can find out if they granted him bail or not, and visit him if we can. They’re probably questioning him now anyway. And it’s late. They’ll never let a non-relative see him at this hour.”  
Rey took at breath at Finn’s words and slowed her pace half a beat. “Maybe you’re right. I wouldn’t be any use right now, but maybe tomorrow I can-”

She broke off suddenly, a figure in the distance catching her eye and once again Finn saw her expression change. Finn followed the direction of her eye line and his heart sunk. There was no mistaking that figure, clad in that distinctive long leather jacket.  
“KYLO!”  
Rey’s scream split the coming dusk, the figure in the distance turned at his name and paused. He was too far away to see his face clearly, but Finn knew the exact smirk he was wearing. He turned away from them slowly and Finn saw, almost in slow-motion Rey’s face twist with anger and sprint after him.  
“Rey no!” Finn called reaching a hand out to her, but it was too late, she was gone. Rey was fast, far faster and fitter than him. He set off in pursuit, full of concern of what would have happened by the time he caught up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soz for the unintended hiatus readers. I've had an unexpectedly busy few weeks.  
> I also wanted to get ahead in my writing before I posted another chapter. The good news is that I am now halfway through the last chapter! So this thing is gonna be finished before Christmas! Huzzah!


	17. Chapter 17

“KYLO!”

Rey’s call split the dusk air. Kylo Ren paused in the middle of the footbridge and turned to face his pursuer. His features smirked at her, everything about his body language mocked her. Rey thought she’d never seen an uglier human in her life, and it wasn’t just the ears that stuck out, or the nose that was too large for his face. It was the callousness in his eyes, the leering hunch of his shoulders, the half snarl, half curl of his upper lip. Rey knew from the look on his face that he had done it, and that he knew that she knew. Yet he didn’t care. Kylo Ren seemed to relish the anger that was pouring off her, there was a hunger in his eyes, like he fed on her reaction. The thought only enraged Rey more and she moved to confront him.

“You bastard!” she growled. “You set Han up! Why? What harm has he ever done you?”  
“What harm?” Kylo moved to close the gap between them. “What good has he ever done me? He’s done nothing but hold me back my whole life. Tried to force me into his expectations of me, never letting me be who I am, never accepting me. He and my mother sent me away rather than raise me themselves. And then, just when I think I’ve broken free of them, I find that even here, even at university the mere association of him is enough to hold me back from my full potential!”  
Kylo had moved into the space right in front of Rey, she could feel his breath on her face and see the mad glint in his eye.  
“You’re delusional!” she said, the disgust evident in her voice. That enraged Kylo Ren even more.  
“And then there’s you! What makes you so special that he took you under his wing? Well he’ll never teach again. I’ve robbed you of your precious tutor and without his favouritism, you’ll go right back to what you were. A reject raised by the state, with nothing to call your own.”

Rey’s hand caught his square across the cheek and he gasped in surprise, but before she had a chance to give a retort Kylo had his hand around her neck and pressed her up against the railings. Below her Rey could hear the whoosh of traffic. In vain she struggled against her attacker’s grip on her windpipe. He pushed all his strength against her and gripped her hip with his spare hand. Leaning right into her, his lips inches from her ear he whispered “Don’t you understand? I can take anything I want…” His fingers dug into the flesh above her hipbone and Rey’s skin crawled, but not with fear of being choked or even thrown over the side of the bridge. This fear was primal, the type of fear that made monkeys learn how to use tools, that drove animals from the sea, the type of fear that makes you want to flee from the stench of death in the air.  
Bravely she attempted to push him off, but it only resulted in him tightening his grip on her. Rey didn’t know what was going to happen, was he really trying to kill her? Rey’s vision started to blur and unbidden tears welled in the corner of her eyes. Kylo Ren was going to choke her here on this bridge. Strangely, the thought that at least he wouldn’t be able to get away with her murder comforted her.  
“Pathetic,” Kylo sneered as he noticed the moisture tracking down her cheeks. “I don’t know why -”  
Kyle’s words were cut short as Rey felt herself released from the iron grip, or the grip torn from her, and crumpled to the ground in a faint.

“Son of a bitch,” Finn directed his insult at Kylo who was on his knees as a result of Finn slamming into him with all his force. Finn had no time for him right now though, his main priority was Rey.  
“Come on, wake up,” he muttered to her giving her a gentle shake, knowing that Kylo wasn’t done with them, but ignoring that immediate danger fearful that he’d arrived too late. A low moan escaped Rey’s lips but before Finn had a chance to be relieved Kylo’s booted foot connected with his stomach, sending him flying away from Rey and gasping for air.  
“Traitor!” Kylo bellowed at him. “Our school gave you everything! And what did you do? Throw it all back in their face!”  
Finn stumbled to his feet. “Fuck you, and fuck our school. I’ll never be what they wanted me to be. I’m done with all of that.”

Kylo roared his anger lunging towards Finn, but Finn was a Londoner and an orphan to boot. Fancy public boarding school education or not, he knew his way around a fist fight. He had grown up around school yard scuffles and although violence was a language he avoided, it was one he could speak.  
As Kylo surged forward Finn heavily sidestepped and slammed a tightly curled fist into Kylo’s kidneys. Kylo retched in pain but offered Finn no reprieve. Years of fencing had made Kylo light on his feet and rage lent him strength Finn hadn’t thought him possible of possessing. Spinning out of Finn’s attack, Kylo’s fist connected squarely on Finn’s solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him for a second time. Staggering backwards Finn struggled to keep his balance. He was strong and fit, but Kylo danced towards him like a man possessed and Finn could see no way out without knocking him unconscious. Finn was already tired from his mad sprint to catch up with Rey. This needed to finish fast. He dropped his weight and widened his stance, intending to wind Kylo and then land a solid one on his opponent’s face.  
His punch caught Kylo in the stomach but instead of recoiling from it, Kylo pushed through, catching Finn’s arm in an iron grip whilst simultaneously kicking out at him. Finn instinctively moved backwards to avoid the kick. His shoulder exploded in pain as Kylo used his own weight against him and wrenched it from its socket.  
The scream of agony that escaped from Finn’s lips caused Kylo to smile wickedly, a mad glint in his eyes.  
“It’s time for you to stop now,” he commanded.  
“Make me!” Venom filled the tone of Finn’s words as he replied, adrenaline keeping him standing.  
In reply Kylo ran at Finn who raised his good arm as if to grasp him in a wrestling grip, but Kylo twisted his body at the last minute, slamming his shoulder into Finn forcing him to stumble backwards.

Too late, Finn became aware that he was standing at the top of the steps to the bridge. There was nothing to balance him. He took a step backwards into thin air and fell.  
Finn clattered down the steep steps like a rag doll. Vaguely, he was aware that the sound of a human body hitting off steel was one he’d never heard before and some part of his brain told him that he should be in excruciating pain right now, but he felt separate from himself. Awareness started to fade and the sound of Rey screaming his name to the night was the last thing he heard before his whole world turned black.

Rey thought her heart would come out of her throat along with Finn’s name. She had roused from her faint just in time to see her best friend tip slowly over the top of the steps and now, at the sound of her voice, Kylo had turned his attentions back towards her.  
Scrambling to her feet, Rey’s hand connected with a stick, probably abandoned there by a dog or child after playing with it on the beach. She grasped it like a precious talisman. It was about the length of a baseball bat, an inch and a half in diameter. Different from her lacrosse stick but something she could swing in the same way. She got the weight of it quickly and raised it like a bar just in time to stop Kylo from slamming into her. The force of his weight pushed her backwards and she struggled to keep her balance, just like Finn had done. Kylo pushed the advantage of his weight, trying to force Rey back onto the ground of the bridge. What he planned to do after that Rey didn’t know, nor did she wish to find out. Her head was still hazy from her earlier assault but she leaned back towards Kylo and slowly, slowly, she began to gain ground, turning the fight into battle of wills more than a battle of strength.

Unexpectedly Kylo spoke to Rey.  
“Don’t throw your talent away on the wrong people,” he said his face inches from hers. “I know people who would nurture your skills, they could make you great!”  
Rey was still for an instant. She and Kylo maintained eye contact, neither of their faces readable.  
Suddenly Rey dropped her resistance, snatching the wood from Kylo’s grip as he stumbled forward. As he turned to face her, she swung with all her might.

Rey heard the snap as the wood connected with bone and a spray of scarlet blood flew through the air. Kylo sank to his knees clutching his face.  
“I already am great,” she snarled at him.  
Rey neither knew nor cared if it was his jaw or his nose she had broken. Perhaps it was both. He was no concern of his any more. She flung the piece of wood off the bridge onto the road below.  
“We’re done here.”  
The anger in Kylo’s eyes had been replaced by a low simmering of hatred that burned dark. Rey didn’t care. He opened his mouth to say something but only succeeded in coughing out some blood. He scrambled to his feet, cast one last death stare at Rey before fleeing.

Rey turned her back on his retreating frame and rushed back across the bridge and down the steps to here Finn lay. There was a small trickle of blood coming from his nose and one of his arms lay at an awkward angle to his body.  
“Oh Finn!” Rey breathed. “Come on Finn, please wake up.”  
She fumbled in her pockets, where was her phone?!  
“Don’t you dare be dead,” she choked through tears she didn’t even know she had been creating. “Don’t you dare!”  
Finally she located her phone and with tremoring fingers dialled 999.

Rey sat beside Finn, gripping his hand tight, shaking with worry until the ambulance arrived, lights flashing and siren blaring.


	18. Chapter 18

_Beep, beep, beep._  
The noise echoed through Finn’s brain and he wished it would stop.

“Has he been getting the right amount of fluids?”  
Finn felt a jab on the inside of his elbow and something taped over the top of it.

_Beep, beep, beep._  
There was that noise again.

“Brain scans came back normal doctor.”  
“That’s good news.”  
The conversation floated somewhere above Finn’s head, but felt like it was far away.

“I’m so sorry.”  
Finn was aware of another hand in his but the concept was abstract to him.

“I miss you, please wake up soon.”  
Was that the same hand in his, or a different one? Finn couldn’t tell the difference. He didn’t even know how long it had been since the last sensation of touch.

_Beep, beep, beep._  
Finn wished more than anything he could turn that noise off, but any time he thought about opening his eyes the light was too bright and he had to wait until it faded into blessed black again.

“That shoulder looks to be healing nicely.”  
A twinge of pain shot through Finn’s shoulder at the mention of it. He’d forgotten he had limbs.

“ - got a scholarship for a summer course in America. I wish we could say goodbye properly before I leave. But you’ll be fine Finn. I’ll see you in September.”  
Finn felt soft pressure on his forehead and then nothing.

_Beep, beep, beep._  
Why did no one turn that noise off? Didn’t they know how much it was irritating him?


	19. Chapter 19

There was a hand in Finn’s again. He was certain this time. It was warm, and rough, and comforting. Gradually he became aware of the sensation of his thumb being stroked ever so slightly. It was a smooth repetitive movement.  
“Oh buddy…”  
The voice was familiar to him. Finn was sure he knew it from somewhere. It didn’t continue though so Finn was unable to work out where from.

_Beep, beep, beep._  
That fucking noise! Finn was determined to get rid of it this time. He forced his eyes open and the room around him came into focus.  
He was on his back, staring at grimy grey ceiling tiles. The walls were a faded white and out of the corner of his eyes Finn could just make out curtains that looked like they belonged in the 70s, covering a large window. Finn became aware that there was something in his arm. Glancing down he realised it was a needle. His eyes followed its tube to an IV drip beside him. The realisation that he was in a hospital slid slowly into his thoughts, like the gradual waking on a lazy weekend morning. The thought didn’t distress him. Finn felt oddly detached from the whole thing, content to look about him and gather the pieces of what and why for examination later.

His gaze passed to his left and fell on the figure sitting there. He’d forgotten about the fact that his hand was being held. It was almost like things ceased to exist when he wasn’t looking at them. His IV drip had already been forgotten. Poe Dameron was sitting in an uncomfortable looking plastic chair, gently holding Finn’s hand in both of his. His gaze was downcast, shoulders slumped, but even from that angle Finn could tell he looked haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes and his stubble, normally carefully maintained for the illusion of dishevelment, appeared like it hadn’t been touched in days.   
He was almost completely still, but there was no alertness to it. His whole being reminded Finn of a defeated animal, something that had accepted its fate and had no energy left to face the future.  
Finn studied Poe, like he was an observer in his own life, with no thought of any need to speak. He just gazed at Poe, slightly curious, but at what he couldn’t say. The only thing he was truly aware of was the repetitive movement of Poe’s thumb sliding gently back and forth over the back of Finn’s. Even the annoying beep of the machine faded into the background.

Eventually, Poe’s gaze gradually shifted up to Finn’s face. As their eyes met Finn managed a weak smile.  
“Finn, you’re awake?! Oh thank god!” Poe’s whole body jerked into alertness, standing up to get a better look and reassure himself that he wasn’t seeing things. “They said you were going to wake up soon, but they’ve been saying that for days! How do you feel?”  
Finn didn’t know what to say. He blinked at Poe, then slowly he frowned.  
“Days?” he croaked out quietly, his throat dry from lack of use.  
Poe sat back down, pulling his chair closer to the bed with his feet as he did so, his hands still holding Finn’s.  
“Yeah. Days. You’ve been out cold for a couple of weeks buddy.” Poe’s tone was gentle, almost apologetic but Finn’s brain was still a little fuzzy.  
“I don’t-” but a dry cough interrupted him mid-sentence.

When Finn finished coughing Poe was holding a plastic cup of water out to him.  
“Here, have some of this,” he said. “They don’t believe in reducing plastic waste here I guess,” Poe added with a small smile that seemed more like the ones Finn was used to seeing.  
Finn took the cup with shaking hands and took small, careful sips from it. It was cold enough to almost numb his throat as he swallowed but it tasted good, taking away the sandpaper feeling in his mouth. As he rehydrated his brain came back to work. Gradually he became aware of the world around himself and Poe properly. Background noise reached his ears, his peripheral vision opened out, and he became aware of aches and pressure points all over his body. His rib cage was emitting a dull ache, his right shoulder didn’t feel quite normal and Finn knew that he had bruises on his limbs and head without even looking.

Despite the awareness of the pain he was in Finn felt much better after some water. He handed the cup back to Poe and tried to twist his body to prop his pillows up. The movement sent a sharp pain through his ribs, causing him to gasp in discomfort and surprise. Poe was back at his side in an instant.  
“You okay?”  
Finn didn’t think anyone had ever looked at him with so much concern in his life.  
“I just want to sit up.”  
Poe smiled sympathetically and helped Finn out. At his request Poe also pulled the edges of the sheets out from under the mattress, letting Finn shift his legs a little more freely. Now that he was aware of his ribs Finn found he could move without too much pain, so long as he was careful and didn’t move too quickly. Once he was settled Poe sat back down on the chair beside him but Finn noticed he didn’t make any move to take his hand again. He kind of wished he would, his hands had been so warm.

“So what happened?” ask Finn. He could remember finishing his last exam, going for dinner with Rey and then getting into a fight with Kylo Ren. After that there was nothing up to about ten minutes ago.  
So Poe told him. He explained how Rey had called the ambulance, that the paramedics had fixed his dislocated shoulder on the spot, and on top of that Finn had broken ribs and a fractured skull, plus a bit of internal bleeding and multiple bruising. Poe also mentioned how he should probably be letting the medical experts tell Finn all of that. Kylo Ren had disappeared, no one had seen or heard of him since that night and Dr. Solo was still facing charges. Turned out Kylo had laid a trail of much more evidence than just the heroin in his office. The police would be untangling it for a while.

“How did you end up here?” Finn asked when the story was over.  
“Rey told me,” Poe said simply. “She thought I might like to know. She was right.”  
“Don’t you have work to do though?”  
“Not during visiting hours.”  
“Oh.” There didn’t seem to be anything else to say to that.

“Are you comfortable? Do you want me to get you anything?” Poe said, after a brief silence between the two of them.  
Finn shook his head. The effort of concentrating on Poe’s voice for the whole story had tired him out, but he didn’t want Poe to leave either. His presence was comforting, even when he was quiet. It didn’t seem fair to have Poe sit here in silence though so Finn cast his mind around for something to ask him.  
“How’s Bee?” was what he settled on.  
“Oh she’s good,” replied Poe. “I tried to bring her in to see you a couple of times, but no matter how hard I tried, they wouldn’t change their mind about the whole “no animals in the ward” policy.”  
When Poe spoke there was a breezy air to his tone, waving his hands around to emphasise his points, but when he paused Finn could see a worry there that he couldn't quite conceal.  
“I thought she might help, y’know the way they say familiar things can sometimes help people in comas? But no animals. So she’s had to stay at home.”  
“Thanks for trying Poe.” Finn smiled gently. Poe returned it.

The two of them lapsed into silence again and Finn closed his eyes. He was overwhelmed with the effort of staying awake, but didn’t want to sleep while Poe was here.  
Beep, beep, beep.  
“That bloody noise!” exclaimed Poe snapping his eyes open. “Can we turn that off? What is it?”  
Poe chuckled. “Some machine that tells the staff you’re still alive. I think we might need to keep it plugged in.”  
“Well it’s annoying,” huffed Finn.  
“That’s what Rey thought too,” said Poe. “She hated it. Said it reminded her of the absence of you more than anything else. That if it wasn’t for that she could just pretend you were asleep.”  
“Rey… Where is she?” Not that Finn was expecting Rey to be at his side. He wouldn’t have expected that of Poe either. “Is she at the garage?”  
“Actually buddy, she’s in America,” said Poe.  
“America?! What’s she doing there?” Finn couldn’t recall her ever having mentioned any desire to go to America.  
“She got a summer scholarship with some university out there,” explained Poe. “I can’t remember which one. Somewhere in Michigan I think? Dr. Solo spoke to an old friend of his out there.”  
Finn creased his brow. “I think I remember her coming in to say goodbye…” He glanced at Poe. “She kissed me…” Poe raised an eyebrow at that, but designed not to say anything. Finn lifted his hand slowly to his forehead and touched it. “Yeah, right here. I remember…”  
Poe grinned, “Oh yeah?”  
“Yeah…”  
“I think I can do better than that,” and Poe leaned over and kissed Finn on the lips.

If any of Finn’s senses hadn’t come back to him since waking, they did now in an explosion lit by lips and caramel skin. The lights were brighter, he could taste coffee on Poe’s mouth, feel the cracks on his lips, smell mint from somewhere and in the distance birds were calling to one another. Poe’s kiss was soft enough for him to feel the hesitancy there, but firm enough he knew that Poe really wanted to do it. Finn was too gobsmacked by the action to react to it, all he could do was be kissed by this beautiful man who had spent dear-knows how long sitting by his un-reactive bedside.

When Poe broke off, Finn immediately began shuffling sideways in his bed. The hesitant smile on Poe’s face began to fade at the sight of Finn moving away from him.  
“What’s wrong?”  
Finn paused his movements, “I don’t think I have the energy for a make-out session, but I know I could cope with a snuggle session.”  
Poe’s grin reappeared, stretching from ear to ear. “Really?”  
In answer, Finn patted space beside him he’d created in the bed. Poe didn’t need any more confirmation. Kicking his shoes off he clambered in beside Finn, getting comfortable, and within minutes, both of them were fast asleep.

That was how the on-duty nurse found them when she came in to remind Poe that visiting hours were over; Poe with his face in Finn’s chest, his arm across Finn’s waist and Finn’s face buried into Poe’s curly hair, his arm over Poe’s shoulders, their legs tangled up together with the bottom of the sheet.  
Quietly she left the room, not wanting to disturb the picture of peaceful contentedness before her. Lord knew Poe had spent enough time asleep in that plastic chair, he deserved a nap in the bed with the boy he had waited so long for to wake up. Poe could sneak out later, but for now she could let the couple rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks!
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed my retelling of TFA, with a stormpilot twist!
> 
> If you've been with me since the start, or anywhere near the start; thanks for sticking with me this whole time.  
> If you've only recently found this fic; thank you for dropping by.  
> If you left me kudos or comments though out this entire process; thank you so much, it really gave me a lot of encouragement when I saw people were enjoying what I was writing.
> 
> If you have anything to say; positive or negative please leave a comment, particularly if you found anything that might be problematic. I love knowing what lines/parts people liked the most in my writing.
> 
> Once again, thank you so much for reading this. #stormpilot4ever


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